All eyes turn to ‘spy’

Aussie crime link to Mountie arrest

PRIME Minister Justin Trudeau said he was working with Australia and other members of the “Five Eyes” intelligence sharing network after the shock arrest of a top Canadian law enforcement official.

There are fears Cameron Ortis, a civilian directorgeneral with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s intelligence unit, may have exposed highly sensitive information from alliance members to kingpins behind the trade in encrypted phones, widely used by Australian criminals.

The US, UK and New Zealand are the other members of Five Eyes. Any breach could place clandestine operations and informants in danger.

“We are continuing to work with our Five Eyes allies on this matter, which we are taking extremely seriously,” Mr Trudeau said yesterday.

Mr Ortis, 47, has been charged under a 2012 security information law used to prosecute spies.

Allegations against him include obtaining information to give to a foreign entity or terrorist group, communicating or confirming operational information and breach of trust.

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki would not confirm or deny reports that authorities were led to Mr Ortis during a multinational investigation into Vincent Ramos, the Vancouver-based head of encrypted phone company Phantom Secure. She would only say the RCMP was working with the FBI in 2018 when they “came across certain documents that led us to believe that there might be some internal corruption”.

The Australian Federal Police was among the law agencies involved in the probe of Ramos. The FBI estimates that of the 20,000 Phantom Secure devices in service, 10,000 were used by Australian criminals. Ramos – who also sold Phantom Secure devices to Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s Sinaloa drug cartel, a major supplier of cocaine and ice to Australia – was jailed for nine years this year for “leading a criminal enterprise that facilitated the transnational importation and distribution of narcotics through the sale of encrypted communication devices and services”.

“I have information that I am confident you will find very valuable,” one email from Mr Ortis to Ramos allegedly said.