Federal police say the arrest of a Sydney man on drugs charges is just the tip of the iceberg as they threaten to target up to 160 people they suspect of involvement in organised crime.
The 33-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday as part of Operation Ironside, which netted hundreds of arrests in June.
Those arrests came after criminals swapped messages on the app AN0M, which they believed was a secure option, but was in fact a Trojan Horse distributed and monitored by the Australian Federal Police and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"Those we didn't arrest in June are under the false belief they got away with it," AFP Detective Superintendent Matthew Ciantar said on Thursday.
"However there's nothing on their devices that we don't already have and it's only a matter of time before we scoop up those who believe they've gotten away with the crimes they've committed."
The man was arrested following an investigation into a syndicate the AFP believes had been importing illicit drugs into Australia using trusted insiders at a multinational delivery service company.
He was arrested at his workplace, a Sydney freight forwarding company.
Police say they found a replica Glock pistol, scales and other drug paraphernalia at his home.
Three men arrested in June were part of the same syndicate, Det Supt Ciantar said.
The man arrested this week has been charged with knowingly taking part in the supply of methamphetamine.
He'd paid $75,000 for what he thought was one kilogram of methamphetamine, but was actually soda crystals.
Intelligence gathered from AN0M showed he was refunded the $75,000 after he was ordered to do so by a Comanchero gang associate based overseas, police say.
The alleged seller who tried to rip him off was one of the June arrests.
Det Supt Ciantar said the arrest shows police are still acting on the intelligence they'd gathered previously as their investigation moves into a second phase.
This stage will run for months with a "high tempo" of activity over the next few weeks as police target up to 160 people across the country.
Criminal groups can expect "increasingly targeted activity" against them.
The man arrested this week will appear before Central Local Court on Thursday.
