'Encryption King' Arrested In Turkey (404media.co) 31
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: Hakan Ayik, an infamous drug trafficker who also popularized the use of certain brands of encrypted phones around the world, was arrested during a series of dramatic raids in Turkey last week. At one point a group of heavily armed Turkish tactical officers in brown and gray camouflage piled outside an apartment and banged on the door repeatedly. They then smashed the door down and moved inside with a riot shield, according to a video tweeted by Turkey's Minister of the Interior. The video then showed a photograph of Ayik, shirtless and on his knees while staring straight ahead, surrounded by multiple officers.
It was a moment that capped off the arrest of Australia's most wanted man, and a sign that Turkey is no longer a safe haven to organized criminals. But it was also something of a closing act on Anom, a brand of encrypted phone that the FBI secretly took over and managed for years after inserting a backdoor into the product, allowing agents to read tens of millions of messages sent across it. Ayik unknowingly helped the FBI gain that piercing insight into organized crime by selling the devices to other criminal associates. Given Ayik's position as a trusted authority on what communications tools drug traffickers should use, one associate even referred to him as the 'encryption king' in an Anom message I've seen. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Ayik will not be extradited to Australia. Instead, Australian police are encouraging Turkish authorities to investigate and prosecute him as a Turkish citizen.
It was a moment that capped off the arrest of Australia's most wanted man, and a sign that Turkey is no longer a safe haven to organized criminals. But it was also something of a closing act on Anom, a brand of encrypted phone that the FBI secretly took over and managed for years after inserting a backdoor into the product, allowing agents to read tens of millions of messages sent across it. Ayik unknowingly helped the FBI gain that piercing insight into organized crime by selling the devices to other criminal associates. Given Ayik's position as a trusted authority on what communications tools drug traffickers should use, one associate even referred to him as the 'encryption king' in an Anom message I've seen. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Ayik will not be extradited to Australia. Instead, Australian police are encouraging Turkish authorities to investigate and prosecute him as a Turkish citizen.
Considering he won't be extradited... (Score:3)
Maybe Turkey IS a safe haven for organized criminals. They are "encouraging" the Turks to prosecute him.
Nice photo op.
Re: Considering he won't be extradited... (Score:5, Funny)
Not sure "spens time in Turkish prison" is at the top of many bucket lists.
Re: Considering he won't be extradited... (Score:2)
Autocorrect never kicks in when you need it.
Re: Considering he won't be extradited... (Score:5, Funny)
Obligatory question, courtesy of Captain Oveur: "Joey, have you ever been in a... in a Turkish prison?"
Re: Considering he won't be extradited... (Score:4, Insightful)
Turkish prisons have always been considered horrid. That said, note we aren't really told if he is doing any time. Lots of stuff about money laundering and forefeiture but not a peep about him being tossed into a cell with a common criminal.
Re: (Score:3)
I can see their point though - why bother to go through the expensive and time-consuming process of extradition, then an expensive and long trial, then pay to lock him up for years, when you can just encourage the locals to take him out back and shoot him? The Turkish criminal justice system would appear to have quite an advantage over the Australian one in terms of "deterrance".
Hiding there is a kind of a "hig
Re:Considering he won't be extradited... (Score:5, Informative)
"No citizen shall be extradited to a foreign country because of an offence, except under obligations resulting from being a party to the International Criminal Court." -- constitution of Turkey, section II.2.XIII.C article 38 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki... [wikisource.org]
Australia is not going to make a futile request.
Re: (Score:3)
I guess you are unaware of the state of turkish prisons. The Australians should be prosecuted for human rights violations for _not_ extradicting him.
Re: (Score:2)
Are you for real? The worse the prison the better for scum like him. Frankly a bullet in the head for the lot of them would be the best option but 2nd best is a foul cramped concrete box for the rest of their lives.
Re: (Score:3)
I see you are a primitive cave-man. The thing people like you do not understand is that harsher penalties do not help in fighting crime. In fact, they make things worse. People like you just want revenge, not a fix for the problems. In fact, you probably want more crime in order to have more fuel for your sadistic fantasies. How repulsive.
Re: (Score:3)
Sounds like we're heading into the crime and punishment rabbit hole again. So let's be clear, everyone has a different opinion on what prisons are for. Take your pick from:
1) Rehabilitation of offenders
2) Preventing further offending
3) Deterring other potential offenders
4) Punishing offenders
5) Revenge
6) Because pinko socialists won't let us shoot the b*****ds.
Now add up your score. More than twelve makes you a Republican, less than five makes you a pinko socialist.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"No, you're just a caveman."
Oh look, a sock puppet! Too cowardly to post under your other handle?
" it still wouldn't be a deterrent. "
Part of imprisonment is preventing the criminal reoffending. The death penality and full life terms solve that quite nicely.
"you think like a child, emotionally and impulsively with no regard for what actually works or maintaining any shred of morality"
Do spare me your patronising high moral ground nonsense. The only children here are the ones who think psychopaths can be reh
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed. Fun fact about murder: Almost all that do it would never murder again even without any penalty at all. They did it in a situation where they thought they had no choice and hence no punishment (including death) has any preventative value. You can simply educated them on what to do if such a situation threatens to arise again and how to deal with that situation (in almost all cases: get help). The small group that is different is almost universally mentally ill and should not be punished anyways, but
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed. Fun fact about murder: Almost all that do it would never murder again even without any penalty at all.
Would be interested in seeing a reference for that statement. There are certainly enough cases where a murderer isn't caught on the first crime, but when finally caught, looking at their history shows previous crimes.
Re: (Score:2)
"Almost all that do it would never murder again even without any penalty at all"
Cite.
Re: (Score:2)
And how does your immaculate logic square with people like Anders Breivik, Peter Sutcliff or Harold Shipman? Crimes commited in countries with no death penalty.
Take your time.
Re: (Score:2)
If you get rid of the criminals that certainly fixes the problem because they won't criminal again.
Re: (Score:2)
Nope. You do not see the whole system. The Science is _really_ clear on this. You are just trying to justify your personal desire for savagery.
Re: (Score:2)
Read what I said. I didn't say getting rid of criminals would stop all crime. I said getting rid of criminals would prevent them from being criminals again. Thus, any crimes they would commit in the future are prevented.
Re: (Score:2)
I read your statement. You wrote "that certainly fixes the problem". That is not the case. Your theory of crime is flawed and does not describe actual reality.
Re: (Score:2)
The problem with hellhole prisons is that it shows the soul of a country. A country's soul can be easily judged by how they treat their criminals, terrorists, political prisoners, and outcasts.
What happens when people get tossed into a hellhole prison is that either they die in there, or they are released with zero skills and zero opportunities to be a functioning member of society, perhaps with mental trauma. They also won't be arrested that easily, and will turn a simple traffic stop into a last stand/s
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed. Especially the "soul of a country" part. As for the rest, look at Europe, for example. All harsher penalties do is make society more savage. (Which has a certain inner logic: The "law" is getting more savage and the citizens just follow.) All penalties that aim to crucify a person do is make crime more violent. Rape becomes rape-murder, assault becomes murder, cops shoot first, and at some point nobody trusts anybody anymore and society crumbles into small fragments.
Re: (Score:2)
The worse the prison the better for scum like him.
Has he been tried and found guilty? If not, TFA should read "Hakan Ayik, an infamous ALLEGED drug trafficker..."
Re: (Score:2)
What, presumption of innocence before proven guilty? What a load of crap! Burn the witch!
In other news, you are perfectly correct and in an actually civilized legal systems neither his name nor any pictures would be legal to publish until he was found guilty.
So regular phones are not encrypted? (Score:2)
As an Aussie politicians once told someone (Score:1)