Anom sting operation could ensnare top figures in Irish organised crime
Irish criminals used the FBI-run Anom encrypted app, and Garda sources believe intelligence gathered will target high-level gang figures, including the Kinahan cartel leadership.
Garda expects Anom intelligence to reach upper tiers of Irish gangland
Senior Garda sources believe intelligence harvested from the Anom encrypted messaging platform — secretly operated by the FBI for 18 months — will be used to strike against Irish criminal gangs both at home and abroad in the coming months, The Irish Times has reported.
The global operation, described by Europol as the "biggest ever law-enforcement operation against encrypted communication", resulted in 800 arrests worldwide, the seizure of eight tonnes of cocaine, two tonnes of amphetamines, 22 tonnes of cannabis, 250 firearms and $48 million in cash or cryptocurrency, along with 700 house searches across 100 countries.
Separately, The Irish Times has established that intelligence from last year's infiltration of the rival encrypted platform EncroChat by European law enforcement has already been used in Garda operations. That material directly led to one significant strike against an Irish gang in the Republic, and provided information used in further raids targeting drug networks.
Discreet approach
Garda sources said the force was taking a more measured approach than some of its European counterparts, who had made public statements linking specific raids to the Anom and EncroChat operations.
"EncroChat did provide intelligence and we're confident Anom will provide high-grade information," one source told The Irish Times. "But that's more likely to be used as intelligence for investigations and searches rather than leading directly to a huge breakthrough that we'd go public on and link it [to Anom]."
Other sources said they were hopeful that messages sent by Irish criminals over the Anom network may relate to the most senior gang leaders in the country, including figures within the leadership of the Kinahan cartel operating offshore.
Garda Headquarters in Phoenix Park said the force worked "in close co-operation with European and international partners" to investigate organised crime, and did not comment on operational activities. It pointed to recent large-scale seizures of drugs, cash and firearms, as well as major Criminal Assets Bureau operations, as evidence of its effectiveness against organised crime.
How the FBI operation worked
The Anom system was developed by a suspect in the United States who later became an FBI informer, handing control of the platform to the bureau in 2019. Undercover agents from the US and Australia then distributed the modified handsets to selected criminals for an initial fee of approximately €1,100, followed by €800 every six months. Access was referral-only — new customers had to be introduced by existing users, a structure that gave the network an appearance of exclusivity and trustworthiness.
The phones could not make calls. Their primary function was the encrypted messaging app, accessible through the device's calculator. As users sent messages without apparent detection, confidence in the platform grew and criminals recommended it within their own networks. At the point Australian and US authorities went public with the operation, an estimated 12,500 people — almost all believed to be involved in criminal activity — were active on the platform.
Across 18 months, users sent 27 million messages. The majority were still being analysed at the time of the announcement. An estimated 300 criminal organisations across 100 countries had been using the system. Swedish police separately confirmed they had used Anom intelligence to prevent ten planned gangland murders. Other intercepted communications concerned multimillion-euro drug deals, money laundering and firearms trafficking.
Source: The Irish Times