The idea to put a digital Trojan horse in the pocket of Australia's most dangerous criminals began three years ago after the crackdown on other

How the AFP and FBI cooked up the idea of AN0M over a 'couple of beers'

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2021-06-08 09:30:05

The idea to put a digital Trojan horse in the pocket of Australia's most dangerous criminals began three years ago after the crackdown on other modified, encrypted smartphones.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had worked together to shut down Phantom Secure in 2018, a Canadian company that sold thousands of the devices to Australians so they could be used by criminals.

The company had taken BlackBerry phones and stripped out the cameras, microphones and navigation features and installed encrypted messaging software which made them difficult for law enforcement to track.

The crackdown of Phantom Secure and removal of the devices from circulation meant there was a "vacuum", as the AFP put it.

"Some of the best ideas come over a couple of beers," AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw remarked at a media briefing on Tuesday, referring to the circumstances around the set-up of the sophisticated sting.