Category: AFP

Beijing’s Overseas Police Station in Sydney ‘Not Active’: Australian Federal Police

Australian Federal Police (AFP) has said that it doesn’t believe Chinese police are running an active “contact point” in Sydney. It was revealed last month that Chinese officials have been operating an overseas police station in Sydney since 2018. The “contact point” was established by the Public Security Bureau of the city of Wenzhou, China, the…


Australian Federal Police’s Relationship With Beijing ‘Must Be Re-Assessed’: Expert

Concerns have been raised about the close relationship between the Australian Federal Police and Chinese law enforcement after reports revealed a secret Beijing-backed overseas police station was located in Sydney, Australia. The police “service station” was established in 2018 by the Public Security Bureau of Wenzhou City in China, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC) reported on…


Beijing Has Been Operating Overseas Police Station in Australia For Nearly Four Years

Beijing has been operating an overseas police station in Sydney since 2018, the Australian media has revealed. The Public Security Bureau in China’s Wenzhou city has established an official “contact point” in Sydney in 2018, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on Oct. 13. The move was trumpeted at an official ceremony in Wenzhou in 2019…


Google Signs 5-year Deal to Pay for News From AFP

OAKLAND, Calif.—Alphabet Inc.’s Google will begin paying Agence France-Presse (AFP) for its news content as part of broad five-year partnership announced Wednesday that marks one of the biggest licensing deals struck by a tech giant under a new French law. News organizations, which have been losing ad revenue to online aggregators such as Google and…


Former Australian Labor MP Craig Thomson Arrested Over Alleged Multi-Million Dollar Migration Fraud

Craig Thomson, the former Labor MP for Dobell, has been arrested after police alleged he was the primary organiser of a multi-million dollar migration fraud. The former parliamentarian was arrested at his home in Terrigal on the central New South Wales coast after a long-running investigation which saw the Australian Federal Police search Thomson’s residence…


Australian Police, FBI Take Down 220 Underworld Figures in Global Sting Using Encrypted App

Law enforcement has struck a “heavy blow” against “industrial-scale” organised crime in a globe-spanning sting operation involving 9,000 officers from Australia, Europe, and the United States. Key to the operation was the deliberate rollout of an encrypted messaging app to the criminal underworld that gave police access to secret communications between syndicates. “Today, the Australian…


ACT Police Found to Have Illegally Accessed Private Location Data an Estimated 1,704 Times

An investigation has revealed that the AFP’s community policing arm, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) police, used “covert and intrusive” powers to unlawfully gain personal location information on an estimated 1,704 separate occasions between October 2015 and 2019. The report (pdf) by the Commonwealth Ombudsman, Michael Manthorpe, came after the Australian Federal Police (AFP) self-reported a…


Modern Slavery Charges Laid Against ‘Cult’ Leader

A NSW man, 40, will appear before Armidale Local Court on March 17 to face slavery and sexual servitude offences laid by the Australian Federal Police. The former Australian Defence Force member was charged with three slavery and sexual servitude offences after being arrested outside an Armidale hardware store by plain-clothed Australian Federal Police tactical…


AFP Seizes $15.8M Assets From Fraudster

Assets worth nearly $16 million have been seized by AFP (Australian Federal Police) from a man who is serving seven years in jail over a mammoth fraud on the Commonwealth. Six properties, three vehicles, luxury items like watches, multiple bank accounts, investment accounts and shareholdings worth $15.8m are now in the government’s hands. Simon Anquetil…


AFP Seizes $15.8 Million Assets From Fraudster

Assets worth nearly $16 million have been seized by AFP (Australian Federal Police) from a man who is serving seven years in jail over a mammoth fraud on the Commonwealth. Six properties, three vehicles, luxury items like watches, multiple bank accounts, investment accounts and shareholdings worth $15.8 million are now in the government’s hands. Simon…