Overview
- Detectives broadcast a warning into hidden group chats after claiming control of the VIP network that they say links roughly 3,000 distributed devices to organised crime.
- Police raided properties in Kogarah, Bexley and Rockdale and seized about 35 additional VIP handsets, almost $35,000 in cash and luxury watches during the latest actions.
- Three brothers, Hussein, Sami and Hasan Dabaja, were arrested and charged with participating in a criminal group, dealing with proceeds of crime and aiding possession of dedicated encrypted criminal communication devices.
- Authorities say the phones were imported from China, fitted with custom encrypted operating systems, sold for about $2,000 each and supplied to multiple Sydney crime groups to coordinate drug imports, kidnappings and shootings.
- Investigations will use the seized devices as evidence to identify users and pursue alleged overseas coordinators, with police continuing to map links between the phones and violent crimes.