Australian police infiltrate encrypted messaging app Ghost and arrest dozens

MELBOURNE – Australian police said Wednesday they had infiltrated Ghost, an encrypted global communications app designed for criminals, leading to dozens of arrests.

The alleged administrator of the app, 32-year-old Jay Je Yoon Jung, appeared in court in Sydney on Wednesday. He was accused of supporting a criminal organisation and benefiting from the proceeds of crime, among other things.

Jung has neither pleaded guilty nor requested bail. He will remain behind bars until his case returns to court in November.

Australian police have arrested 38 suspects in raids in four states in recent days. Arrests have also been made in Canada, Sweden, Ireland and Italy, said Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney.

“We allege that hundreds of criminals, including members of Italian organised crime, motorcycle gangs, and organised crime in the Middle East and Korea, have used Ghost in Australia and overseas to import illegal drugs and order murders,” McCartney told reporters.

Australian police have prevented the killing, kidnapping or serious injury of 50 people since March by monitoring 125,000 messages and 120 video calls, said Deputy Police Commissioner Kirsty Schofield.

Police claim that Jung developed the app specifically for criminal purposes in 2017.

Australia joined a Europol-led global taskforce to combat Ghost in 2022.

Colonel Florian Manet, head of the technical department of the National Cyber ​​Command in the French Interior Ministry, said in a statement released by Australian police that his officers had provided the task force with technical resources over several years that had helped decrypt communications.

McCartney said the French had given Australian police “a foot in the door” to decrypt the Ghost communications.

Australian police technicians had the ability to modify the software updates regularly released by the administrator, McCartney said.

“In fact, we infected the devices and were able to access the contents of Australian devices,” McCartney said, adding that the alleged administrator lived at his parents' home in Sydney and had no criminal record.

Jung was arrested at his home on Tuesday.

According to police, Jung used a network of resellers to offer special cell phones to criminals around the world.

The modified smartphones were sold for 2,350 Australian dollars ($1,590), including a six-month subscription to Ghost and technical support.

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In this version, the suspect's last name was corrected to Jung.