Security News > 2021 > June > Hundreds Arrested in 'Staggering' FBI Encrypted Phone Sting
Police arrested more than 800 people worldwide in a huge global sting involving encrypted phones that were secretly planted by the FBI, law enforcement agencies said Tuesday.
Australian police said the supposedly hardened encrypted devices were handed out to operatives within the mafia, Asian crime syndicates, drug cartels and outlaw motorcycle gangs as part of the elaborate FBI-led plot.
The operation began after global police work in the past two years disrupted two other major encrypted phone networks used by criminals, Encrochat and SkyGlobal.
"The closure of those two encrypted communication platforms created a significant void in the encrypted communication market," said New Zealand police.
To fill the void, "The FBI operated its own encrypted device company, called 'ANOM'," the New Zealand police added.
New Zealand Police detective superintendent Greg Williams said 35 people had been arrested across the country.