Category Archives: Australian federal police

Criminals tipped off after law enforcement staff shared photo of intercepted shipping container on WhatsApp

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The 2020 blunder, whereby more than 400 Australian public servants received the photo, revealed in annual report of former corruption watchdog

A criminal syndicate was tipped off to a covert operation after federal law enforcement staff shared photos of an intercepted shipping container with more than 400 public servants across multiple agencies.

The blunder compromised the investigation, prompted a multi-agency corruption investigation and led to written warnings to the heads of the Department of Home Affairs, the federal police and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.

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Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial live: Brittany Higgins’ mother tells court hearing of her daughter’s alleged rape was a ‘mother’s worst nightmare’

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The defamation action against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson was due to finish on Thursday but may extend until Monday. Follow the latest news and updates from the trial today

  • A warning for readers: this blog contains graphic details of allegations of sexual assault.

Defence liaison officer told Higgins found in ‘state of undress’, court hears

Payne gave evidence that early in the week following the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins, he had been told by minister Linda Reynolds’s chief-of-staff, Fiona Brown, about an incident involving Lehrmann in Parliament House.

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Sixth former immigration detainee arrested in Melbourne for allegedly breaking curfew

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Government scrambles to respond to last month’s high court ruling which led to the release of at least 148 detainees

A sixth former immigration detainee has been arrested in Melbourne after being released due to last month’s high court ruling.

A 36-year-old Eritrean-born man was arrested after allegedly failing to comply with a curfew, the Australian federal police said in a statement on Friday night.

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Australian federal police tested controversial facial recognition search engine, FOI documents reveal

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Exclusive: The AFP told Senate estimates it is now aware the PimEyes and FaceCheck.ID platforms may have been tested for operational purposes on around 10 occasions

The Australian federal police have tested a controversial facial recognition search engine, possibly for operational use.

Documents obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws show hundreds of connections between AFP devices and the website PimEyes between 1 January and 4 August this year.

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Australian federal police officers’ details leaked on dark web after law firm hack

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The AFP is the latest organisation revealed to have been caught up in the HWL Ebsworth hack, perpetrated by a Russian ransomware group in April

The personal details of Australian federal police officers have been leaked on the dark web, according to the police association, as part of a wide-ranging data breach that could threaten other high-profile agencies.

The AFP is a client of the law firm HWL Ebsworth, which was hacked by a Russian-linked ransomware group in April, sparking fears that highly sensitive information would be widely distributed.

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UK espionage saga a ‘wake-up call’ for Australian parliament, opposition says

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Calls for further security measures including vetting of staffers after UK parliamentary aide arrested on suspicion of spying for China

An espionage scandal in the UK should serve as a “major wake-up call” for Australia, a senior opposition member has said.

Australia’s shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, called on both countries to “harden” their political systems to reduce the risk of alleged compromise, including wider use of vetting of staff members.

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Chinese academic raided by Australian police and offered $2,000 for information during trip

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Exclusive: Sino-Australian relations expert had phone confiscated and was asked to provide information during ‘heavy-handed’ and ‘counterproductive’ episode

A Chinese academic visiting Australia on a research trip had his accommodation raided by Asio and the Australian federal police, and was offered $2,000 in cash by a man purporting to be from “the federal government” for information on his networks and contacts in China.

The academic, an associate professor at a major Chinese research university, is an expert on Sino-Australian relations and was visiting Australia between July and August. His surveillance comes as Australia seeks to restore its relations with China, with a confirmed prime ministerial visit to Beijing later this year.

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AFP calls on public to donate childhood photos in bid to combat child abuse with AI

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Project with Monash University will use images to train system to recognise pictures of children on dark web

The Australian federal police want the public to donate their childhood photos to an artificial intelligence project aimed at helping save children from abuse.

The project, run by AFP and Monash University, will help detect child abuse material on the dark web, or on devices that have been seized during criminal investigations.

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AFP received 28 misconduct allegations involving MPs, staff or ‘official establishments’ in 12 months

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Federal police declines to provide more details about the reports, which were made in the year after Brittany Higgins went public

Federal police received 28 allegations of misconduct by parliamentarians, their staff or “official establishments” in the year after Brittany Higgins’ allegations first became public knowledge.

But the Australian federal police has declined to outline any further details, including which state or territory police force it passed the reports to for further investigation.

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Dutton wasn’t told details of Bhojani bribery investigation as it was not ‘custom and practice’, AFP tells estimates

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Federal police say they did not tell then home affairs minister name of man who was subject of Nauru investigation or that department had contracts with him

Australian federal police investigating an Australian citizen for allegedly bribing politicians on Nauru have told a Senate estimates hearing they did not tell the then home affairs minister his department was paying the man’s company multimillion-dollar accommodation contracts at the same time, because it was not “custom and practice”.

The AFP says it knew a company linked to Mozammil Gulamabbas Bhojani had multiple ongoing contracts with the home affairs department when it briefed the then home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, on its Nauru foreign bribery investigation on 12 July 2018.

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How a picture of bedsheets from dark web led police to Brisbane childcare centre and man’s arrest

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Tiny traces from videos and images drew detectives to a childcare worker accused of being Australia’s worst serial paedophile

In 2014, detectives from a specialist Queensland police unit came across a small number of videos and images posted online, depicting the abuse of two girls but containing few clues as to where in the world they had been made.

After the discovery by taskforce Argos, the Australia federal police (AFP) and other agencies began an international search for the victims. This included uploading the material to a database that could be searched by other law enforcement agencies.

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Australian businessman ‘in survival mode’ when he placated Chinese intelligence with open source information, documents claim

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Federal police statement of facts tendered to court say Alexander Csergo was in ‘an enhanced state of paranoia’ about being detained in Shanghai

Alexander Csergo says his Chinese intelligence handlers would nominate where to meet.

When he would arrive, Ken and Evelyn - he only ever knew them by a single Anglicised name - would already be waiting and the restaurant otherwise empty of people: cleared, he believed, specifically for their meeting.

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Two men accused of importing $61m of cocaine hidden in yacht at Townsville

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Matthieu Anthony Rees and Rachid Kachour arrested at ACT apartment after federal police seize 247kg of cocaine

Two men have been accused of importing more than $61m worth of cocaine by sea after Australian federal police seized 247kg of the drug allegedly hidden in a yacht in Queensland.

Matthieu Anthony Rees, 44, and Rachid Kachour, 55, both from Griffith in the ACT, were arrested at their apartment on Thursday as part of an investigation into cocaine seized from a yacht moored in Townsville.

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‘My son is innocent’: mother of imprisoned Australian businessman denies he’s a Chinese spy

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Lawyers say Alexander Csergo brought home list of requests from aspiring Chinese handlers to ensure he would be believed by Australian authorities

An Australian businessman facing a foreign interference charge brought home a “shopping list” given to him by two Chinese intelligence officials as evidence of China’s overt and ultimately unsuccessful efforts to cultivate him as a source, his lawyers say.

The list, which Alexander Csergo slipped between the pages of a magazine to spirit out of China, requests information about whether Australia’s new Aukus alliance is “preparing for [a] Taiwan war”, about competition between the US and China in the Pacific, and about the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.

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Network Ten asks AFP to investigate ‘leaking’ of evidence in Bruce Lehrmann trial

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Lehrmann is suing Ten and Lisa Wilkinson in the federal court over their initial reporting of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations, which he denies

Federal police have been asked to investigate the alleged leaking of evidence from the trial of Bruce Lehrmann to the media by a lawyer representing Network Ten.

Marlia Saunders, a partner at Thomson Geer, who is representing Network Ten in a defamation case brought by Lehrmann against them, confirmed she had made a complaint to the AFP on 7 June regarding the leak.

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Morrison government paid corrupt businessman millions for offshore processing on Nauru

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Mozammil Gulamabbas Bhojani was convicted of bribing two Nauruan officials with more than $120,000

The former Australian government continued to pay millions of taxpayer dollars to a businessman convicted of corruption to provide offshore processing services on Nauru, even after he had pleaded guilty to bribing Nauruan government officials.

In August 2020 Mozammil Gulamabbas Bhojani was convicted of paying more than $120,000 in bribes to two Nauru government officials, including an MP and government minister, for favourable deals on phosphate mining contracts for his Radiance International group of companies.

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Australian police find huge haul of Mexican meth worth $273m in hydraulic press

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Federal police try to identify crime syndicate behind elaborate smuggling scheme into NSW, after drugs found at port inspection in Sydney

More than 300kg of methamphetamine concealed deep inside a steel hydraulic press has been smuggled into New South Wales from Mexico.

Australian federal police say the seized haul has an estimated value of more than $273m and could have made up 3m individual street deals.

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ADF to expand Pacific links in $1.9bn budget package to boost Australia’s influence

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After big-spending Aukus and defence announcements, Labor switches focus to diplomacy

The military and police will expand links with Pacific Island countries as part of a nearly $2bn budget package aimed at boosting Australia’s influence across the region.

After two months of rolling out big-spending defence announcements – including the Aukus nuclear-powered submarines – the Albanese government used Tuesday night’s budget to signal renewed interest in diplomacy and regional engagement.

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Man charged with foreign interference to remain behind bars until Monday – as it happened

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The 55-year-old businessman appeared via video link at Parramatta magistrates court. This blog is now closed

‘Really disturbing footage’: David Pocock responds to gas seep video

Senator David Pocock has called the video showing large methane gas bubbles active on the surface of Queensland’s Condamine River “really disturbing footage”.

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Australian man who allegedly sold information to foreign spies faces court

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Alexander Csergo, 55, was arrested in the Sydney suburb of Bondi on Friday on one count of reckless foreign interference

An Australian man charged with a foreign interference offence will remain behind bars until Monday after his case was adjourned in Sydney.

Alexander Csergo, a 55-year-old businessman who normally lives overseas, was arrested in the Sydney suburb of Bondi on Friday for allegedly sharing information with individuals who work for a foreign intelligence service, the Australian federal police said in a statement.

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