Global game of cat and mouse with crime gangs 'up' after phone network dismantled

Ireland's primary crime group, the Italian Mafia and biker gangs hit in global operation

Assistant Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly speaking at a press conference, via video link, to a press briefing at Europol in Walter Scott House in Dublin. Photo: Sam Boal/Collins Photos

A “global game of cat and mouse” was how the EU police agency described an international operation to bring down an encrypted phone system used by some of the world's most powerful crime gangs.

Jean Philippe Lecouffe, head of operations at Europol, said more than three years of “hard work” had gone into the investigation. It started after French authorities managed to compromise the encrypted network known as ‘Ghost’ and its servers — located in France and Iceland.