The Australian “Operation Kraken” took more than 6 million dollars from the Holy Ghost composer

AFP arrests 32-year-old man in New South Wales home raid The second arrest in Kraken after AFP cracked the suspect's pedigree.

Australian Federal Police have seized $6.4 million worth of crypto from the developer of Ghost, an encrypted communications platform that created and managed the app.

Under Operation Kraken, a 32-year-old New South Wales man was arrested on September 17 and charged with five counts of supporting a criminal organisation, an AFP statement said.

The success of this operation was made possible after an AFP analyst traced the genealogy of the account belonging to the suspect's digital wallet to the devices in a raid on his Norwegian home.

According to the AFP, they took the assets into a secure AFP cryptocurrency vault and are prohibited under the Commonwealth Criminal Procedure Act 2002.

This marks the second seizure of crypto assets under Operation Kraken, after an estimated $1.4 million was seized in an investigation into the alleged criminal organization in Western Australia.

“The confiscation of these assets demonstrates the technical capabilities and powers that the AFP and our partners in CACT (Criminal Assets Seizure Task Force) can bring to bear on organized crime,” said Commander-in-Chief Scott Raven.

To date, Operation Kraken has made 46 arrests, executed 93 search warrants, seized 30 illegal firearms, seized $1.6 million in cash and seized $7.65 million in property.

Breaking the spirit

According to AFP, Ghost was created nine years ago; However, it was only in 2022 that law enforcement agencies had the opportunity to attack the platform.

The importance of suppressing the communication platform is highlighted by the number of organizations. In the year In 2022, international partners begin targeting Ghost and request the AFP to be part of the task force.

Europol created a task force called OTF NEXT, led by the FBI and the French Gendarmerie. Under these two organizations, those assisting included the AFP, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Swedish Police Authority, Dutch National Police, Irish Garda Síochána and Italy's Central Directorate of Anti-Drug Services. The Icelandic police also helped.

While working in the operation, the AFP created Operation Kraken after being able to infiltrate Ghost. After updating the suspect's released updates on which devices were seized, AFP was able to access the content on these devices in Australia.

According to AFP, most of the criminals who allegedly used Ghost are based in New South Wales. However, they are found in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).