One thousand encrypted phones have been seized by police across the country in a a major crackdown on bikies and gangsters.
Australian Federal Police raided 19 properties a part of the global take-down of Phantom Secure phones.
The technology that uses modified BlackBerry devices is used to organise drug imports, murders, kidnappings and money laundering.
The Australian Federal police have seized 1000 encrypted phones since March 6 across the nation
Phantom Secure was thought to be used to plan the murder of Hells Angel bikie, Tyrone Slemnik in 2013
The AFP confirmed on Friday over 1,000 phones had been seized since March 6 and a 29-year-old man from Victoria had been arrested.
He was charged with commercial drug trafficking and drug possession.
It is believed the encrypted phones were used to plan the murder of Hells Angels member, Tyrone Slemnik in 2013 and Hells Angels associate Roy Yaghi in 2012.
Assistant Commissioner Neil Gaughan said the 19 locations that were picked as they were actively involved in the facilitation and distribution of Phantom Secure devices in Australia.
‘Some of those people, there is no doubt they were agents, based on the fact that at some of those locations there was substantial numbers of handsets found that you could not say were for personal use,’ the Assistant Commissioner told the Daily Telegraph.
‘We’re of the view there’s in excess of 10,000 Phantom Secure handsets currently or previously used in Australia,’ he said.
The system has been down for the past 48 hours and is not being used by any one in the country.
The AFP shut down the system for the past 48 hours and it is not being used by anyone in the country
‘We’ve taken it, it’s totally down. It’s not being used by anyone in Australia,’ he said.
Phantom Secure chief executive, Vincent Ramos was charged by the FBI on Monday for racketeering activity involving gambling and drug trafficking.
Over 20,000 phones have been found world-wide using Phantom Secure by the U.S. and other countries.
No allegations have been made against the manufacturers of Blackberry phones
Phantom Secure costs $3,000 to start it’s encrypted service and a subscription fee of $2,000 every six months.
Police have said criminals paid up to $50,000 to keep these phones and had to be introduced by other Phantom Secure users initially.
The software is believed to remove camera and microphone functions as well as GPS capabilities making them near impossible for authorities to track.
There have been no allegations against the manufacturers of Blackberry and other phones have been found to use Phantom Secure.