Global police dismantle encrypted messaging app used by criminals

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International law enforcement agencies have shut down an encrypted communications platform and arrested 51 people, marking a success in a coordinated crackdown on anonymous messaging services used by criminal gangs.

Europol and law enforcement agencies from nine countries have dismantled Ghost, an online platform that used three different encryption standards and allowed users to destroy all messages by sending a specific code, Europol announced on Wednesday.

The operation is the latest by international agencies to decrypt encrypted messaging services that criminals use to manage their international activities. It follows previous operations that have taken down platforms such as EncroChat and Sky ECC in recent years.

“Italian organised crime, criminal motorcycle gangs, Middle Eastern organised crime and Korean organised crime have used Ghost in Australia and overseas to import illegal drugs and to order the killings of individuals involved in various criminal enterprises,” Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner David McLean said at a news conference in The Hague.

Based on a joint investigation that began in 2022, 38 people were arrested in Australia, 11 in Ireland, one in Canada and one in Italy. The latter belonged to the mafia organisation Sacra Corona Unita, based in the South Puglia region, Europol said.

According to McLean, Ghost was carried out by a 32-year-old man from Australia, one of the main targets of the operation.

The decryption operation, in which agents cracked the app’s code so they could read users’ messages, could have prevented the deaths or injuries of about 50 people, McLean said.

According to Europol, more arrests are expected.

According to Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, thousands of people worldwide were using Ghost, with around 1,000 messages being exchanged every day.

The national police are struggling to tackle the global activities of criminal organisations, so being able to read their messages is crucial to their prosecution.

“Encrypted telephone communications are a challenge for modern policing, but we are now making significant progress,” said Justin Kelly, Assistant Commissioner of the Garda Síochána, the Irish police force.

Jean-Philippe Lecouffe, Deputy Executive Director of Europol, said Ghost has a smaller user base than previously decrypted platforms EncroChat or SkyECC. This indicates that criminals are using a wider range of platforms for encrypted messaging.

“The landscape is much more fragmented now, we have multiple smaller networks that are being used by criminals,” he said.

EncroChat was decrypted by international law enforcement agencies in 2020. Last year, Europol reported that the decryption led to more than 6,500 arrests worldwide and the seizure of approximately €900,000, mostly in cash.

Many users then switched to another platform, Sky ECC, which was unlocked by Belgian, Dutch and French law enforcement in 2021, leading to large-scale raids and arrests.

Those decryptions continue to lead to new charges and convictions. A Brussels court is expected to rule next month on decrypted information from SkyECC, involving more than 120 suspects.