The Australian Federal Police (AFP) seized $6.4 million in crypto assets from a criminal ring leader behind an encrypted communication platform known as Ghost.

The seizure of the assets followed a successful investigation by the AFP on the criminal group and the Ghost platform which has become a playground for bad actors.

The AFP announced its arrest of Jay Je Yoon Jung, 32 which occurred on September 17 under an operation code named “Kraken”.

Jung was charged with five offences which included supporting a criminal group.

Operation Kraken was the code name for the security and investigative operation that led to arrest of 32-year-old Jung. The AFP confiscated the $6.4 million worth of crypto assets after an analytics specialist within the AFP-led task force decoded the “seed phrase” of alleged accounts.

The Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT), under the AFP now moved the recovered loot to a safe storage.

The AFP acting commander Raven commented on the operation while revealing the length his men would go to uncover illicit financial activities.

“AFP is keen on identifying and restraining “ill-gotten goods such as cryptos.

“The restraint of these assets shows the technical capabilities and powers that the AFP, and our partners through the CACT, are able to bring to bear on organized crime.” Raven said.

The announcements by the AFP revealed what the CACT will do with the confiscated money while also stating that the crypto assets were confiscated under the Common Wealth Proceeds of Crime Act.

“The CACT will seek to have the restrained assets forfeited to the Commonwealth in due course.” 

Operation Kraken is not the first major operation launched by the AFP on crypto related crimes. In August, the AFP launched operation Spincaster in collaboration with blockchain Data firm Chain analysis. The operation was targeted at mitigating losses of crypto assets through Phishing attacks.

The operation revealed that at least 2000 Australian wallets were compromised. The operation hopes to prevent future loss of crypto assets by using a combined strategy of Education, tools and training.

The AFP in its findings acknowledged that cryptocurrency exchanges like BTC Markets, Binance, Crypto.com, Ebonex, Independent Reserve, OKX, SwyftX and Wayex were doing their part to prevent Australians from crypto scams.

On Wednesday, Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, stated that the government has prohibited United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering the country for failing to “unequivocally” denounce Iran’s missile attack against Israel.

It should be noted that Iran launched ballistic missiles toward Israel on Tuesday, amid an increase in conflict between Israel and its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah.

Guterres delivered a brief statement on Tuesday following the missile attack, criticizing “the broadening of the Middle East conflict, with escalation after escalation.”

Following Guterres’ remark, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz stated that Guterres’ reluctance to call out Iran rendered him persona non grata in Israel.

“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel, as nearly all the countries of the world have done, does not deserve to set foot on Israeli soil.

“Israel will continue to defend its citizens and uphold its national dignity, with or without Antonio Guterres,” Katz said.

Asked to react to the development, U.S. State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller said: “Steps like these are not productive to (Israel) improving its standing in the world.”

“The U.N. does incredibly important work in Gaza. It does incredibly important work in the region. And the U.N., when it’s acting at its best, can play an important role for security and stability,” Miller added.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric described the announcement as political and “just one more attack, so to speak, on U.N. staff that we’ve seen from the government of Israel.”

He said the U.N. traditionally does not recognise the concept of persona non grata as applying to U.N. staff.Meanwhile, during a security council meeting on Wednesday, Guterres said: “As I did in relation to the Iranian attack in April – and as should have been obvious yesterday in the context of the condemnation I expressed – I again strongly condemn yesterday’s massive missile attack by Iran on Israel.”

Following Tehran’s launch of a volley of rockets at its archrival, world leaders urged Iran and Israel to back down.

Israeli military and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters clashed on the ground in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, a day after Iran launched its largest-ever attack on Israel.

According to CNN, the Israeli military reported eight soldiers killed in combat on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission recommended Nigerians living in Lebanon to consider leaving the country as hostilities between the warring countries intensified.

NiDCOM’s Spokesperson, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, issued a statement urging Nigerians to take advantage of the fact that commercial flights were still flying, allowing for a safe evacuation.

“Worried by the attacks on Hezbollah and other areas in Lebanon by the Israeli government, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission is hereby advising Nigerians resident in Lebanon to consider moving out of the country now that commercial flights are still in operation.

“Though information from the Nigerian community in Lebanon indicated that most Nigerians have relocated from the southern part and are now relatively safe, we hereby advise them to keep safe until the ceasefire is in place,” the statement read in part.

-World leaders have condemned the escalating violence.-

The Chinese authority called on the international community, especially major influential powers, “to truly play a constructive role and prevent the situation from further deteriorating,” according to a foreign ministry spokesman in a statement published online.

“This situation is developing by the most worrying scenario,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said on Wednesday, adding, “We call all sides towards restraint and we condemn any acts that could lead to the death of the civilian population.”

Hours earlier, Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denounced what she said was the “complete failure” of United States President Joe Biden’s approach.

“The White House’s incomprehensible statements demonstrate its complete helplessness in resolving crises,” she posted on Telegram.

Pope Francis also requested a day of prayer for peace on October 7, the anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel.

Biden directed the US military to “assist Israel’s defense against Iranian attacks and shoot down missiles that target Israel.”

The incident was “totally unacceptable” according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“Initial reports suggest that Israel, with the active support of the United States and other partners, effectively defeated this attack,” Blinken told the crowd.

The US and G7 members “unequivocally” condemn Iran’s missile attack on Israel, the White House said on Wednesday, adding that the group was also discussing fresh measures.

According to sources, Biden spoke with G7 members to address Iran’s “unacceptable” attack and to organize a response “including new sanctions,” the White House statement stated.

The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, decried the “broadening conflict in the Middle East”.

Guterres condemned “escalation after escalation” in the region, as Israel’s confrontation with Hezbollah expanded amid its continuing war with Palestinian Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

“This must stop. “We absolutely need a ceasefire,” he stated.

In one of her first acts since taking office, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum issued a formal apology on Wednesday for the 1968 army killing of students.

“October 2nd will not be forgotten!” Sheinbaum, a former student activist who refers to herself as the “daughter of ’68,” proclaimed on the anniversary of the massacre.

Official numbers show that 30 people were killed when security forces opened fire on students conducting a peaceful march in Mexico City’s Tlatelolco district, just days before the country hosted the Olympics.

According to relatives and campaigners, over 400 people lost their lives.

Sheinbaum, who was sworn in as Mexico’s first female president on Tuesday, said in her inaugural news conference that a decree would be published defining the killings as crimes against humanity.

She promised that security forces would never again be deployed “to attack or repress the people of Mexico,” just hours before a planned protest in Mexico City demanding justice for the atrocity victims.

Sheinbaum was born to Bulgarian and Lithuanian Jewish migrants in Mexico City amid the early 1960s unrest, when students and other activists sought to remove the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s lengthy hold on power.

Her mother lost her job as a university lecturer after condemning the murders.

Thousands of people participated in a typical annual demonstration in commemoration of the fallen students just hours after Sheinbaum’s speech.

Some protestors, known as the “black bloc” because of their black hooded clothes, tossed stones and firecrackers at police officers patrolling Mexico City’s main square, the Zocalo, which houses the presidential palace.

“It is not enough to apologize. We want justice… You can give apologies to your friends, but not to us who gave our lives to change this country,” said Oscar Menendez, 90, who was present at the 1968 tragedy.

Angel Rodriguez, 76, who also took part in the student movement, said the apology goes some way in improving the relationship between people and the state.

“She was not obliged to offer that apology. It should have been previous presidents, immediately after the massacre,” Rodriguez said.

Sheinbaum, a chemist by training, won a landslide victory in the June elections on a promise to continue her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s left-wing reform agenda, with whom she is close.

Lopez Obrador left government this week after six years due to the country’s single-term restriction, despite having a roughly 70% approval rating, owing largely to his measures targeted at assisting impoverished Mexicans.

Sheinbaum takes over a country where criminal violence, much of it tied to drug trafficking and gangs, has killed over 450,000 people since 2006 – an issue she will confront when she delivers her security plan next week.