A genius tactic from police has led to a massive crime bust overnight, with 4000 police storming homes executing hundreds of search warrants across the country.

The bust is the largest blow ever on organised crime in the Southern Hemisphere and has unearthed drug importations and distribution, planned assaults, kidnappings, murder plots and extortion.

Australian Federal Police and the FBI worked together on an encrypted messaging platform known as AN0M, which they got into the hands of underworld figures.

What the criminals didn’t know was the system was being run by the FBI and monitored by the AFP.

More than 11,000 criminals across the globe, including 1650 in Australia, were using the app under the belief it was encrypting their messages.

Overnight, the operation in Australia culminated in 336 search warrants executed by 4000 officers and more than 100 charged.

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