How an international drug cartel plotted a ‘line to Australia’
The files checked by The Heraldclaim Rivkin was one of four directors of a Swedish amphetamine cartel called The Firm.
The documents also suggest that Rivkin intended to use his connections to expand the company’s territory to capitalize on Australia’s sky-high drug prices.
An AN0M chat allegedly showing Rivkin (user 56d3f9) talking about his plans for the company’s expansion into Australia.Credit: Swedish Police Authority
The Company
“Through conversations on the encrypted AN0M platform, it appears that the people in the report form the core of a group that has long engaged in large-scale drug-related crime,” begins one of the police files, translated into Swedish.
The exact origin of the company is not clear from the court documents, but in just a few months it is said to have produced more than half a ton of amphetamine.
To achieve its goal, the company turned a cozy Swedish home into an industrial laboratory, according to court documents, and began shipping drugs across Europe from July 2020.
Images shared on AN0M appear to show tray upon tray of amphetamines drying in the lab, drugs in car trunks and cards being used by drug couriers.
“(The heads of the company) organized the extensive amphetamine trade in Sweden and also in the rest of the world,” the translated documents read.
Stay off the grid
From the beginning, in mid-2020, the law firm was highly secretive.
The house chosen as the drug lab was small and unassuming, in the lakeside village of Olshammar, more than three hours from the capital Stockholm.
A house in the small Swedish village of Olshammer that is said to have been converted into an industrial amphetamine laboratory. Credit: Swedish Police Authority
Meanwhile, Rivkin is said to have urged directors and subordinates to send messages using AN0M.
Before any drugs left Olshammar, Rivkin arranged for 10 phones to be shipped to the company in July 2020, according to a series of messages.
He maintained his enthusiasm for AN0M until the last kilo left the lab in December 2020, police claim.
This month, a WhatsApp user named “Anom Göteborg” sent a selfie from his dimly lit office.
Rivkin at his office in December 2020. Police claim he was a key “influencer and administrator” of the AN0M network.Credit: Swedish Police Authority
The bearded man in the picture is smiling confidently, showing off a gold watch and giving a thumbs up.
Behind him is a huge AN0M logo illuminated on the wall with the words “Enforce your right to privacy” below it.
Another image of a Swedish driver’s license sent in chat suggests Anom was Göteborg Rivkin.
“Hold on to AN0M, it’s going to be the next big thing,” Rivkin told his contact.
AN0M chats reportedly show Rivkin (aee441) asking a drug chef to show him amphetamine bricks from the lab. Credit: Swedish Police Authority
Six months later, the world learned that AN0M was a masterful deception by law enforcement. But by then, the law firm had communicated endlessly on the platform.
“Seneca, please take nice photos with this new phone so I can see the stones and beautiful presentation,” Rivkin reportedly wrote to the chef in July 2020.
Seneca responded with an image of vacuum-sealed white bricks.
The drug lab as photographed by police during the Olshammar raid.Credit: Swedish Police Authority
South facing
By October 2020, the firm was reportedly splitting cash and discussing security.
They spoke of using amphetamine to trade Glock pistols, a Kalashnikov machine gun and grenades, the documents say.
Hakan Aik
The documents say that in December 2020, when the firm was completing its latest batch, Rivkin told the group that Australians would pay 160,000 Swedish kronor per kilogram for medicines – six times the amount they earn in Europe. He brought up the idea of making methamphetamine, the documents say.
“I’ll give you room for Australia,” Rivkin reportedly wrote.
“If you can make the meth, we don’t know what to do with all the money :)”
Police sources believe Rivkin’s line after Australia was AN0M’s top influencer and Australia’s most wanted man: Hakan Ayik.
In the US court case, Kogarah-born Ayik and Rivkin are both named as the top “administrators and influencers” in the AN0M network.
Both allegedly spread the fake encrypted software through the criminal community.
At the time of the trial, both were believed to be living in the same region of Turkey and both remain on the run.
NSW court to rule on AN0M
Dozens of accused AN0M users were arrested in NSW when Australian Federal Police carried out a massive raid in June 2021.
Many of them have joined a lawsuit against the legality of the AN0M intercepts.
Prosecutors are hoping NSW courts will come to a similar conclusion as South Australia’s Supreme Court, which ruled earlier this month that the AN0M evidence was legally obtained.
The first installment of the NSW hearings begins in Sydney on Monday.
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