In the aftermath of an Australian man’s arrest in a suburb of Sydney on Monday, swift ensuing events unfolded in Ireland. In Dublin and adjacent counties, the Garda enacted 33 search warrants, leading to the detainment of eleven suspects. Ireland’s most prominent drug syndicate, “The Family”, are due for a more detrimental impact in the coming times.
Earlier this week, the Garda, spearheaded by the National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, conducted a substantial operation involving around 300 officers, many of whom were armed. This operation resulted in the seizure of drugs approximated to a value of €16 million, predominantly cocaine, complemented by lesser amounts of cannabis and heroin.
In addition to this, €350,000 in cash, Rolex watches, a Range Rover 4X4, keys to cryptocurrency accounts, and 27 laptops were seized. They also found about 200 sim cards, 126 mobile phones, of which 42 had been specially modified with software and harware for the use of the Ghost encrypted mobile messaging app.
The above leads back to the Monday crackdown in Narwee, a suburb located in southwestern Sydney, where the assumed creator and administrator of the Ghost messaging platform was apprehended, marking the downfall of his app. Jay Je Yoon Jung, 32, was placed under custody by the Australian Federal Police around 5 am.
Claims suggest that Jung conceived the Ghost platform when he was 23 and has been maintaining it for the past nine years. The intricate, ultra-private and secure app, which was promoted to Australian criminals as being immune to law enforcement hacking, is believed to have been employed for planning grave organised criminal activities. The data implies that Ireland’s largest crime gang was trapped through an app breach.
An Australian application creator, an international police operation, and a recent illicit drug crackdown in Wexford are intricately connected by Dublin’s infamous gang, ‘The Family.’ This cartel has reportedly become the leading narcotics trafficking unit in Ireland, arising to prominence after the collapse of the Kinahan’s network. Accused of playing a role in the large-scale confiscation of firearms, cash, and drugs in Dublin and Wexford this week, the gang’s activities came into the spotlight as a result of intelligence provided by Australian law enforcement.
A 32-year-old Sydney resident, Jay Je Yoon Jung, played a significant role in the gang’s operations. Jung developed an encrypted application, Ghost, which became the preferred communication platform of a substantial portion of Ireland’s criminal organisations.
Delving into the use of this app in Ireland and the aftermath of its hacking by Australian officials, Security and Crime Editor Conor Lally provides insight. The show is anchored by Aideen Finnegan and produced by Declan Conlon and Finnegan.
Jean-Philippe Lecouffe, deputy executive director of Europol, characterised Ghost as an essential tool for serious organised crime groups. According to him, the app facilitated narcotics dealing, weapons trafficking, extreme violence, and large-scale money laundering. The app saw an exchange of approximately 1,000 messages – comprising text, images, and videos – daily, and was presumably only available to criminals due to the stringent controls on its access.
David McLean, Assistant Commissioner of the Australian police, affirmed that all the intercepted communication provided no evidence of the application being used by anyone other than criminal enterprises. Users, after gaining access to the app through modified mobile devices, paid €3,000 annually to utilise it for planning and coordinating crimes, including drug trafficking, money laundering, and even murder.
Even though Australian criminals primarily used the Ghost application, with about 400 members being registered, a number of users were from overseas. Approximately 100 out of an estimated 200 international users were from Ireland.
Jung was depicted this week as an unsociable tech whiz living with his parents. Despite working in his family’s cleaning business and being a fan of karaoke, Jung led a double life. The Australian police maintain that his motivation for running this secretive platform was a combination of financial gain and the thrill of the endeavour.
It’s believed that the man in question amassed significant wealth from the platform, before investing it all into digital currencies. Claims have surfaced from Australian investigators that he served as an informal IT consultant for numerous Australian criminal organisations, such as motorcycle gangs who are widely recognised as controlling a large portion of Australia’s illicit drug trade. Other gangs of Middle Eastern, Italian and Korean descent operating within Australia also reportedly utilised the platform. The individual, Jung, is a resident of Sydney and of Korean heritage.
His platform was further promoted by a team of eight ‘resellers’; dedicated individuals who sought to attract additional clientele. It is suggested that the decision to grant or deny someone access to the platform was ultimately made by Jung. Despite promotional activities, the method of marketing was kept discreet and largely word of mouth, according to Australia’s police commander, Paula Hudson.
Information about the platform, Ghost, was first bought to the attention of Australian authorities in 2021 by their French counterparts. A subsequent probe, codenamed Operation Kraken, ensued but despite intensive efforts, the platform’s defence structure was impenetrable. The Australians ultimately managed to embed a surveillance programme into Jung’s computers.
Upon him distributing updates to the various handheld devices accessing Ghost worldwide, the surveillance progress spread to each device, effectively transforming them into monitoring tools. In following six months, more than 125,000 interactions were surveilled, revealing the platform’s influence extended further than initially estimated, albeit modestly.
Collaboration took place between Australian authorities and international organisations such as the FBI, the French National Gendarmerie, the Canadian Mounties, and agencies in Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden. Ireland found itself at the heart of the operation as half of the remaining 200 accounts were based there once Australian users were excluded.
The decisive action took place earlier last week, when Australian authorities arrested Jung as well as apprehending more than 50 criminals across the country. Real-time information about Irish users and their activities led to further arrests and seizures in the Republic on the following days. Assistant commissioner Justin Kelly, head of the Garda’s Organised and Serious Crime branch, and Det Chief Supt Seamus Boland, head of the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, both emphasised more arrests are likely to follow, highlighting the seniority and value of the Irish criminals involved.
Currently, the Gardaí (Irish police) are meticulously inspecting every message related to Ireland that has been sent on Ghost in the past half-year. This cumbersome task is part of a wider attempt to derail and dismantle the operations of four influential Irish drug syndicates that utilise this platform. One of these groups was attempting to promote the platform’s use within Ireland’s criminal circles.
Boland, without mentioning a specific name, indicated that one of the gangs, known as ‘The Family’, is now the predominant drug syndicate in Ireland. Led by men in their 40s from Ballyfermot, The Family has been a key player in the narcotics business for nearly three decades, but their wealth and influence have kindled notably over the past ten years.
They currently import more drugs into Ireland than any other gang, including the once-dominant Kinahan cartel, and are responsible for more cocaine and heroin distribution to other gangs in Ireland. Their rise to this status can be attributed partially to their growth, yet it also reflects the decreased presence of the Kinahan cartel in Ireland, which is primarily focusing on European markets now.
The Irish operation once overseen by Liam Byrne (43) – the Byrne organised crime from Crumlin – has been eradicated by the police as a repercussion to the Kinahan-Hutch feud. After fleeing both the Hutches and the Gardaí to Britain around 2017, Byrne pleaded guilty in London to severe gun conspiracy charges on Thursday. His admission of guilt may entail a long jail term. Moreover, his house in Crumlin was seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau in 2018. Byrne’s reign as domestic drug lord ostensibly has come to an end, placing ‘The Family’ in his place.
Even though ‘The Family’s operations were impeded due to the dismantling of Ghost, they had already been experiencing substantial burden. Among the largest cases of cash and drug interceptions during the pandemic can be traced back to the criminal group. Additionally, their key leadership is now facing legal scrutiny, with several of the gang’s hierarchy having previously served prison sentences for drug-related offences. Moreover, their monetary ventures and personal properties are under investigation by the Cab. Upon the indictment of the senior figure of ‘The Family’, restrictions preventing the public naming of him and other significant members will cease.
Their identities and pictures are set to consistently hit the headlines. However, the shift in their universe might be more than they comprehend this week. Their involvement in the Ghost investigation and the verified information that they are now Ireland’s most prominent narcotics organisation implies they will be persistently covered by the press.
This degree of scrutiny typically marks the downfall for those who manage to establish dominance in the local drug business. The Family could learn a thing or two from Liam Byrne’s experience.