The FBI began planning a sophisticated sting that led to the arrests of 800 suspected organised criminals in raids around the world three years ago. Police this week carried out hundreds of searches, seized drugs, fire-arms, luxury vehicles and cash in co-ordinated operation across multiple countries. The targets were organised crime groups who had placed their trust in an encrypted phone application called An0m to arrange drug deals, kidnappings, and assassinations. An informer working for the FBI sold An0m Android phones on the black market claiming it offered users highly secure encrypted messaging services. More than 9,000 encrypted devices were in circulation by the time law enforcement agencies pulled the plug on the network on 7 June 2021.