Media Release
Melbourne drug traffickers using encrypted criminal platform sentenced as part of Operation Kraken
Two Melbourne men have been sentenced over their involvement in a drug trafficking ring linked to Italian organised crime.
The AFP launched Operation Kraken-Kashyyyk in July, 2024, targeting members of Italian organised crime who were using Ghost, an encrypted communications platform designed specifically for criminal use. The platform has since been dismantled by international law enforcement.
Investigators identified the men, now both aged 27 and from Moonee Ponds and Keilor East, as suspected of using the encrypted application to traffic commercial quantities of controlled drugs.
The AFP executed search warrants at addresses in Moonee Ponds and Keilor East in September, 2024, when officers seized cash, drugs, steroids and encrypted devices. The men were arrested and charged in November, 2024.
The Keilor East man pled guilty and was sentenced yesterday (4 August, 2026) to six years’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of three years, for trafficking a marketable quantity of a controlled drug, contrary to sections 302.3(1) and 311.2 of the Criminal Code (Cth).
The Moonee Ponds man pled guilty and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of three years. He was convicted of trafficking a marketable quantity of a controlled drug, contrary to section 302.3(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth) and dealing with money worth $10,000 or more intending that the money will become an instrument of crime, contrary to section 400.6(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth).
AFP Commander Nick Read said Operation Kraken demonstrated the AFP's ability to target organised crime groups that exploited encrypted technology to facilitate serious criminal offending.
“Technology does not make criminals invisible,” Commander Read said.
“The AFP, along with our law enforcement partners, has extensive capabilities to identify and disrupt any person who attempts to hide behind an encrypted app to commit crimes.
"Today's outcome demonstrates that involvement in organised crime carries serious consequences."
