Bobin man on bail ahead of hearing over legality of cop app trap

After spending 11 months behind bars, Edward Jay Ryan, 32, was on Thursday granted strict conditional bail in the NSW Supreme Court due, in part, to the lengthy delay he likely faces while a landmark hearing determines the validity of the encrypted communication platform at the heart of the international sting.

Mr Ryan, who was living at Bobin, north of Taree, at the time of his arrest in April, 2022, is accused of directing the activities of a criminal group that allegedly includes Hunter trio Peter Maddison, Lindsay Giles and Janey Zycki.

Police have said the group were involved in the cultivation and supply of large quantities of cannabis and supply of cocaine and MDMA and had links to high-ranking overseas members of the Comanchero Outlaw Motorcycle Gang.

The 32-year-old has been charged with knowingly deal with the proceeds of crime, knowingly direct the activities of a criminal group, three counts of supplying a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and importing a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.

Mr Ryan has not entered any pleas and, alongside 65 others arrested as part of Operation Ironside, will challenge the legality of evidence collected by police using the ANOM app during a massive hearing later this month.

The ANOM app was a secure messaging platform set up by authorities as part of a joint venture between the FBI in the United States, the Australian Federal Police and other law enforcement agencies targeting criminal organisations around the world.

The device containing the app was covertly distributed to alleged underworld figures, who began using it to communicate with each other. But what they didn't know was that every message was being intercepted by law enforcement officials, who spent three years gathering evidence against hundreds of alleged criminals before revealing the sting to the world in June, 2021.

Police made more than 1000 arrests globally, including 224 in Australia, under the banner Operation Ironside.

Mr Ryan and the members of his alleged syndicate were not arrested in June like the majority of those caught in the ANOM trap.

Instead, the State Crime Command's Drug and Firearms Squad say they established Strike Force Byarong at the resolution of Operation Ironside and began electronic surveillance targeting the group.

On April 20, 2022, they made dawn raids on properties at Banora Point, Bobin, Elermore Vale, Wickham, and Medowie and allegedly seized a shotgun, ammunition, cannabis leaf, cash and numerous electronic devices including a dedicated encrypted communication device.

Police allege the group were involved in the cultivation and supply of significant quantities of drugs between October 2019 and when the ANOM trap was revealed to the world in June 2021.

At the time, detectives said the data left behind by alleged users of the ANOM app continued to yield results for investigators, more than 12 months after the initial raids.

"We will be alleging this syndicate was involved in the cultivation and supply of cannabis and other prohibited drugs including cocaine and MDMA on a large commercial scale," Drug and Firearms Squad commander Detective Superintendent John Watson said. "These individuals were directly linked to high-ranking overseas members of the Comanchero OMCG and each played a role in carrying out the illicit activities of the syndicate at the expense of our community. Those who used the ANOM phones to facilitate serious organised crime should know that it is only a matter of time until you are prosecuted for your criminal endeavours."

But during Mr Ryan's successful bail application on Thursday, Justice Peter Garling said if the ANOM encrypted app was found to have unlawfully intercepted messages then the case against Mr Ryan would be "significantly weakened".

"I accept the strength of the Crown case if you get the ANOM material in," Justice Garling said. "But if you leave that aside, the other charges relating to what was seized at the property, that would not necessarily result in a full-time jail term of more than [the time he would spend behind bars awaiting trial]."

While Mr Ryan and others wait to test the validity of the encrypted app in NSW, there was a significant development in the case in the Supreme Court of South Australia on Wednesday, with a judge finding the platform was legally run by police.

Justice Adam Kimber, who has heard months of evidence as part of the nation-leading Ironside test case, found the evidence was admissible and the phones did not allow the AFP to illegally intercept phone communications.

The case was whether the app had allowed police to "surveil" or "intercept" the messages with lawyers for the accused arguing the police needed a warrant for each phone to make the operation legal.

But Justice Kimber dismissed the defence application in what will no doubt be the first of many legal challenges to the operation.

Back in NSW, the judgment in South Australia looked set to impact on Mr Ryan's bail application, but Justice Garling said the lengthy wait he faced to get a trial date, as well as a number of strict bail conditions, including a $1 million surety, ankle monitoring bracelet and a curfew, meant Mr Ryan could be released on bail.

Mr Ryan and the 65 others will face a hearing in the NSW Coroners Court starting on April 17.

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