As cocaine use in Australia skyrockets, dealers and users are increasingly turning to encrypted phone messaging apps such as Wickr to thwart police.
The latest Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research figures show possession of cocaine in New South Wales has increased by 41.2 per cent over two years, with Sydney’s inner city and eastern suburbs pushing the rise.
BOCSAR executive director Dr Don Weatherburn said those two areas, which contain large number of affluent drug users, were responsible for about 60 per cent of the increase.
As arrests rise, cocaine dealers and buyers are using Wickr technology – once promoted by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull – in a bid to keep their communications secret.
A man is arrested within view of the Sydney Opera House as part of an operation conducted by Strike Force Northrop, targeting dial-a-dealer cocaine supply in metropolitan Sydney
The Wickr mobile phone message app allows encrypted communication and is increasingly being used by Australian cocaine dealers and buyers in a bid to thwart police investigations
Anatomy of a drug deal in 2017: Customer contacts a syndicate handler, who messages the delivery driver, who meets the buyer at a designated address to hand over a bag of cocaine
Cocaine sezied by Strike Force Northrop in an operation targeting dial-a-dealer supply
Over the 12 months to September 2016, BOCSAR recorded 1817 incidents of cocaine possession. Over the 12 months to September 2017, the figure was 2566.
‘It’s been steadily climbing,’ Dr Weatherburn told AAP.
‘I think it would be a fair thing to say that it reflects, at least in part, a real increase in cocaine consumption,’ he said.
As cocaine use increases and police mount successful operations targeting dial-a-dealer operations the trade is moving towards the use of encrypted messaging apps.
Major drug suppliers have long favoured BlackBerry devices which encrypt messages but now small-time buyers are turning to what they see as the safety of secure messaging apps.
Wickr, which allows sending encrypted messages that can be wiped by the sender once read, seems to be the most popular among cocaine dealers.
NSW police attached to Strike Force Northrop arrest a young woman in Sydney as part of an operation targeting the dial-a-dealer supply of cocaine in the metropolitan region
Cocaine dealing is big business in Australia’s capital cities; pictured are hundred dollar notes seized by Strike Force Northrop in an operation targeting drug supply in metropolitan Sydney
The technology, which is legal, also wipes messages from Wickr’s servers, leaving few clues for law enforcement agencies gathering evidence.
One Sydney cocaine customer who has for years bought her drugs via simple text messages or phone calls says she is increasingly finding dealers want to use Wickr.
‘It’s very well known,’ she told Daily Mail Australia. ‘Most people I talk to have either used it or know about it.’
Using Wickr was already widespread among dealers posting advertisements for drugs with online classified sites but it is now popular to conduct street level deals.
In a typical operation, a customer uses the app to message a syndicate with their order. A handler then forwards an address to a driver who communicates with the buyer before they reach the agreed meeting point.
Using Wickr, no trace of those messages will be left.
Wickr, which does not promote drug dealing, boasts about the security of the app on the company’s website.
‘You’re always in control of who has access to your messages and how long,’ it says. ‘No one else can retrieve your data, including Wickr.’
Police attached to Strike Force Northrop arrest a young man in the centre of Sydney as part of a crackdown on dial-a-dealer drug supply in the metropolitan region
This text message featured in a recent drug trial; with Wickr encrypted messaging police would not recover an SMS like this one from a drug dealer or buyer’s mobile telephone
Dr Michael Kennedy, head of the University of Western Sydney’s Bachelor of Policing program and a former drug squad cop, said criminals always took advantage of technological advances such as Wickr.
‘The minute it becomes available the first people who are going to take advantage of it if it works for them are organised crime networks,’ Dr Kennedy said.
‘Put your feet into the shoes of criminals and you wold be stupid not to use it.
‘It’s the same as doing an armed robbery with with an invisible gun.’
The head of the NSW State Crime Command, Assistant Commissioner Mal Lanyon, said drug crime investigators knew cocaine dealers were using apps such as Wickr to avoid detection.
‘The NSW Police Force is well aware of the use of encrypted telecommunication devices and applications by criminal groups to facilitate crime,’ Assistant Commissioner Lanyon said.
Police attached to Strike Force Northrop arrest a young man in the centre of Sydney in November as part of a major crackdown on dial-a-dealer cocaine supply in the city
Cocaine possession has increased more than 40 per cent in NSW over the past two years; pictured are police arresting a young man in Sydney in a crackdown on dial-a-dealers
Cocaine dealing in Sydney is a serious and highly profitable business; pictured is a Glock 26 semi-automatic pistol seized by Strike Force Northrop targeting inner city drug dealers
‘We work in partnership with law enforcement agencies and industry, both locally and internationally, to circumvent the use of encrypted communications and target those who conduct criminal activities which impact on the community of NSW.
‘It is not appropriate to comment further on the specific actions undertaken by law enforcement to combat encrypted communications.’
Wickr’s popularity soared in 2015 after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull – who was then Communications Minister – revealed he used the app to communicate with parliamentary colleagues.
‘I use Wickr as an application,’ Mr Turnbull said in March that year. ‘I use a number of others, I use WhatsApp, because they’re superior over-the-top messaging platforms. Hundreds of millions of people do.’
Officers attacked to Strike Force Northrop pull a driver from a car in central Sydney as part of a crackdown on dial-a-dealer cocaine supply operations in the metropolitan region
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull revealed in 2015 he was an enthusiastic user of Wickr, which he found ideal for communicating privately with his federal parliamentary colleagues
Police sent this text message to about 2000 numbers found on mobile phones seized as part of Strike Force Northrop’s crackdown on the supply of cocaine in Metropolitan Sydney
Wickr’s co-founder Nico Sell told The Australian in November 2015 that Mr Turnbull’s endorsement of the messaging app led to a spike in downloads.
‘We’ve seen about a 700 per cent increase in downloads since Turnbull first announced that he uses it,’ Mr Sell told the newspaper.
NSW Police attributed the huge increase in cocaine possession to ‘the proactive work being conducted by police to target the supply and possession of these and other illicit drugs across NSW.’
This week NSW police announced Srike Force Northrop had disrupted a number of dial-a-dealer cocaine supply operations after arresting almost 40 men and women in Sydney.
From the mobile telephones investigators seized they located about 2000 numbers, every one of which was sent a text message alerting the owner police were aware of their previous communications.
‘This ph no has been ID’d as part of a NSWPF Cocaine investigation in the Sydney area,’ the text said.
‘If you have any information please contact Crime Stoppers on 1300 333 000.’
Police make an arrest in central Sydney as part of a crackdown on the supply of cocaine