If you ever needed a reminder of why pineapples are the best party fruit, this story of a mega FBI drug bust is ripe for you. It involves a port in Spain, a fake encryption app, and 1,600 kilos of Ecuadorian cocaine stuffed inside delicious piñas.
In a case straight out of the movies, FBI informants slipped cooked cell phones into the hands of 12,000 unsuspecting criminals around the world. The phones contained a high-tech encryption app that allowed criminals to communicate the details of their operations without a trace. Or so they thought.
In reality, the encryption software known as ANOM was a fake app developed by the FBI to secretly monitor the goings-on of criminals from here to Bangkok. Over the course of the past year, the feds intercepted 20 million messages from professional lawbreakers involved in everything from drug trafficking to murder plots in an operation codenamed Trojan Shield (which, yes, sounds exactly like a condom).
Using their horde of intel, the FBI working with international police networks, and were able to seize major drug shipments to Hong Kong, Spain, and Belgium, totaling a whopping 100,000 pounds of cocaine. As if we needed another reminder the proverbial they are always listening, access to these criminal conversations also led to 800 arrests, the seizure of 55 luxury vehicles, and the capture of $48 million in international currencies.
Right about now you’re probably thinking to yourself it’s a good time to visit your local police auction to get a great deal on a Lamborghini. Unfortunately, none of the arrests were made on American soil. So while you won’t be driving home in the supercar of your dreams anytime soon, at least your next pool party will be full of delicious pineapples. Ehem. You know, pineapples?
Cover Photo: bojanstory (Getty Images)
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