In a major crackdown on transnational organized criminal activity in New South Wales, Australian law enforcement officials have successfully shut down an encrypted mobile phone network that prosecutors allege was purpose-built to help criminal syndicates plan murders, coordinate drug trafficking operations, and conceal other illegal enterprises.
The investigation, codenamed Strike Force Harskamp, was launched in April 2025 after authorities received intelligence that the network’s operators were importing unencrypted communication devices from international suppliers, modifying them with custom encryption software, and reselling the secured handsets to criminal groups across the state of NSW.
According to allegations laid out by detectives, the criminal ring operated the scheme as a full-fledged commercial enterprise, generating more than $2 million in annual revenue from the sale of roughly 1,000 encrypted devices each year to criminal clients.
Over the course of the multi-week operation, law enforcement carried out a series of coordinated raids across Sydney. In searches conducted throughout the past month in the Sydney suburbs of Botany and Banksmeadow alone, investigators seized more than 60 encrypted devices and related accessories. Three additional properties searched on Thursday morning in Kogarah, Bexley, and Rockdale yielded an extra 35 devices, nearly $35,000 in untraceable cash, and a collection of high-value luxury watches.
Three men, aged 25, 26, and 29, were taken into custody at the properties on Thursday. They have each been charged with a slate of criminal offenses, including participating in a criminal group and contributing to criminal activity, recklessly handling proceeds of crime valued at more than $5,000, and aiding and abetting possession of a designated encrypted communication device for the purpose of committing serious criminal offenses.
Speaking on the outcome of the operation, Organised Crime Squad Commander Peter Faux confirmed that investigators have so far traced more than 3,000 devices distributed by the so-called “VIP Organised Crime Network” for use in illegal activity. All recovered devices will be integrated into the ongoing investigation to identify end users and uncover additional details about the crimes they were used to facilitate.
“This operation has struck at the heart of a criminal network that was allegedly deliberately arming organised crime groups with the tools to conceal their offending,” Faux said. “By dismantling this network, detectives have removed a key enabler of organised crime in NSW and reaffirmed our commitment to disrupting those who believe they can hide behind technology.”
The investigation remains ongoing, with additional arrests and charges expected as detectives work through evidence collected during the raids.