THE BLACK HAND FORUM

Hey Steve, have you had a read of this yet? No names listed as of yet from what I can find, but it seems like they’re arresting well beyond just the crop sitters

https://amp.9news.com.au/article/a064b2 ... 9d5f5cc3de

Carmelo Loprete, one of the guys involved in Operation Decollo, has died.

Senior Mafia figures to descend on Adelaide after ‘colourful’ Italian mechanic linked to massive drug smuggling plot dies

Some of Australia’s most notorious Mafia identities are set to descend on Adelaide for the funeral of a “colourful” Italian-born businessman.

2 min read
November 2, 2024 - 11:29AM
Sunday Mail (SA)

With global demand for cocaine booming, and Australians paying some of the highest prices for the drug in the world, it’s no wonder drug traffickers are trying to cash in on the lucrative local market. So how are traffickers trying to smuggle cocaine into South Australia?
Some of Australia’s most notorious Mafia identities are set to descend on Adelaide for the funeral of a “colourful” Italian-born businessman.

Federal and state law enforcement officials are on alert for the underworld influx after “top of the tree” western suburbs mechanic Carmelo Loprete, 66, died last week following a cancer battle.

Mr Loprete, a father-of-one known as Charlie, was accused almost two decades ago of being part of a conspiracy with senior Calabrian Mafia figures to import one of the country’s largest cocaine shipments.


Charges were later dropped.

Senior organised crime figures are expected to attend his funeral in Adelaide’s west later this week after it was delayed to allow overseas and interstate mourners to arrive in South Australia.

Carmelo Loprete, known as Charlie has been described as a “colourful character”. Picture: supplied
Carmelo Loprete, known as Charlie has been described as a “colourful character”. Picture: supplied
Sources said Australian Federal Police officers were “keeping tabs” on Mafia arrivals to Adelaide.

SA Police detectives are also believed to be monitoring city movements.

Mourners, including colourful gangland identities, are understood to be travelling from Italy, Sydney, regional NSW, Melbourne and country Victoria.

“He was pretty close to a lot of people,” a friend said.

He was never convicted of a serious crime despite law enforcement agencies including the National Crime Authority – now the Australian Crime Commission – and AFP pursuing him for years.

“They got close but they never got him,” another friend said.


A joint AFP and Italian police investigation alleged Mr Loprete, from Taurianova, Reggio Calabria, in southern Italy, conspired with three Victorian men to smuggle half-a-tonne of cocaine worth up to $50m into Melbourne between 2002 and 2004.

Nicola Ciconte, 54, Michael Calleja, 51, both of Melbourne, Vincenzo Medici, 45, of Mildura, and Mr Loprete, then in his late-40s, were tried as “fugitives” in 2010 at a Calabria court after a failed attempt to extradite them from Australia.

Authorities alleged the gang plotted to smuggle drugs – never recovered – from South America via Italy to Victoria before being also distributed in Adelaide and Sydney.

The Victorian men were later jailed for between 15 and 25 years after being found guilty in their absence.


A Mr Big, Nicola Ciconte, died in 2013 on the run in Cambodia.

Their prosecutions emerged during a global, four-year investigation codenamed Operation Decollo into Mafia drug-smuggling network across four continents using building materials such as slabs of marble, plastic tubes and vegetable cans.

More than 150 members of mostly Italy-based criminals were arrested while 18 Australian properties were raided including six in Adelaide but with no local arrests.

Mr Loprete’s family, who are not accused of any wrongdoing, declined to comment last week.

But in a death notice on Saturday they paid tribute to Calabrian-born Mr Loprete, late of Findon, as “cherished and adored” father who was “lovingly remembered” and now in “God’s care”.

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Friends told of a “colourful character” and “incredibly generous” man, who was “supermad” for his family and cars.

He was also a regular diner at the city-based La Trattoria Italian restaurant.

Mr Loprete, whose fortune included several properties, was a “highly skilled” mechanic who operated Carmelo Auto Repairs, on Grange Road, Beverley, for more than 20 years.

Until he fell ill, he operated a “boutique” auto business in Hindmarsh using a legendary car knowledge with luxury European models such as Ferrari, Porsche as well as American Cadillacs.


His early years included work at a high-profile Eastern suburbs luxury car dealership. “He was an absolute whiz,” a friend said.

Spokeswomen for SA Police and the AFP declined to comment.

Rick Barbaro has been sentenced.

Ricardo Barbaro jailed for 28 years for ‘entirely merciless’ murder of girlfriend Ellie Price
Erin Pearson
By Erin Pearson
November 1, 2024 — 1.54pm

In April 2020, as the coronavirus took hold, Ricardo Barbaro fled Victoria in a white van he’d rented from his father’s car hire company.

But Barbaro wasn’t fleeing the pandemic, but instead a murder scene inside an unassuming South Melbourne apartment where his girlfriend Ellie Price, 26, lay haemorrhaging blood from a deep gash to her neck.

Ricardo Barbaro arrives at the Supreme Court on Friday for his sentencing for murdering Ellie Price.
Ricardo Barbaro arrives at the Supreme Court on Friday for his sentencing for murdering Ellie Price.CREDIT: SIMON SCHLUTER

On Friday, Barbaro, 38, was jailed for 28 years and ordered to serve 22 before he is eligible for parole for what a Supreme Court judge described as a senseless and cruel crime which had robbed Price’s son of a life with her. Price’s son was 4 when his mother was killed.

Outside court, Price’s mother Tracey Gangell said no prison sentence would ever be long enough to compensate for the loss of her daughter.

She said her family was still broken.

“If he can take life away from someone, his life should be taken away as well. He’s still breathing, he’s still seeing his family. I don’t get to see my daughter any more,” Gangell said through tears.

Tracey Gangelll (in pink) and family members outside court after the sentencing.
Tracey Gangelll (in pink) and family members outside court after the sentencing.CREDIT: SIMON SCHLUTER
“My daughter’s life’s gone. Just why, why couldn’t he have just walked away?”

Justice Stephen Kaye said Barbaro and Price began a relationship in October 2019 which soon became volatile and violent.


Kaye said that at the same time, Price developed a friendship with a man 30 years her senior, Mark Gray, who provided the dancer with substantial financial support.

On May 4, 2020, police found Price’s blood-stained body on the bedroom floor of her Park Street apartment after she failed to contact her Tasmanian-based family for days.

Ellie Price was murdered at her South Melbourne home in the early hours of April 29, 2020.
Ellie Price was murdered at her South Melbourne home in the early hours of April 29, 2020.
Her last known contact was with Gray in text messages she sent him early on April 29 that year.

After the killing, the court heard, Barbaro left the Park Street scene in Price’s white Mercedes-Benz, stopped to visit his father in Williamstown and left the car at an associate’s farm in Diggers Rest.

He then drove a white hire van to see family in the ACT before renting a room in an apartment in Wentworth Point, NSW, where he was arrested on May 14, 2020.

Barbaro was found guilty of murder in September 2023 after two earlier juries were aborted.

“You are the only person who knows what happened on that fateful early morning. Clearly your murder of Ellie Price was a result of a total loss of self-control by you,” Kaye told him on Friday.

“In losing control you made a conscious decision to take hold of a knife for the purpose of venting your rage on her. You then proceeded to stab her six times.


“Your vicious attack must’ve been absolutely terrifying for Ellie Price as she vehemently tried to defend herself against you by scratching at your forearm. Your murderous attack on her was cruel, vicious and entirely merciless.”

Price’s sister Danielle Price last month told the court she was now raising her nephew, who remains traumatised years after his mother’s death.

“His only wish in the world is to have his mum back. When we go to Ellie’s grave he lays down to be near her. He always says how much he needs his mother,” Danielle told the court.

“How do you answer to a child asking why his mother isn’t here any more?”

On Friday, the judge said Barbaro’s crime had deprived Price of her most basic right to life and the joy of watching her son grow.

He noted Barbaro had lived an unsettling upbringing littered with significant trauma and the exposure to his paternal family’s lengthy criminal behaviour.

Joe Barbaro, the father of Ricardo Barbaro, outside court.
Joe Barbaro, the father of Ricardo Barbaro, outside court.CREDIT: LUIS ENRIQUE ASCUI
After leaving school, the court heard, Barbaro was rejected from the air force because of his family’s criminal connections.

In 2004, his half-sister was abducted and later found abandoned, before his stepmother died in a car accident in 2007 while driving his siblings to school.


In the following years, Kaye said, there were numerous attempts made on Barbaro’s life, his brother Rossario died by suicide and brother Pasquale was murdered.

Kaye said Barbaro had told a psychologist he recalled waking to Price attacking him and acted in self-defence, a version of events Kaye said the jury verdict rejected.

With time already served, Barbaro will be eligible for parole in 17½ years.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

‘Oversaturated’ meth market pushing Canadian makers to export abroad: Document
https://vancouversun.com/news/oversatur ... ort-abroad

New legal action against Mick Gatto

Colourful restaurateur launches legal action against Mick Gatto

A colourful restaurateur embroiled in a bitter feud with Mick Gatto is now suing the prominent Melbourne identity, alleging he conspired to have trumped up firearm charges brought against him.

Miles Proust
Miles Proust
Exclusive
@milesproust
2 min read
October 24, 2024 - 5:19PM
Jamal Khan Mohammad has launched legal action against Mick Gatto. Picture: Aaron Francis
Jamal Khan Mohammad has launched legal action against Mick Gatto. Picture: Aaron Francis
A colourful restaurateur embroiled in a bitter feud with Mick Gatto has launched legal action against the prominent Melbourne identity, alleging he conspired to have trumped up firearm charges brought against him.

Jamal Khan Mohammad, 61, was charged with possessing multiple firearms, an imitation gun and ammunition after weapons were uncovered during a police raid of his Beaumaris home last year.

Mr Mohammad, who denied the weapons were his, is now suing Mr Gatto, 69, and another man, Adam Wright, alleging they plotted to have him charged by telling police he threatened to kill Mr Gatto before planting guns with his fingerprints on them in his cousin’s car.

In documents he filed himself to the Supreme Court, Mr Mohammad alleges Mr Wright called Crime Stoppers on September 13 last year informing them Mr Mohammad had firearms and was plotting to kill Mr Gatto at Lobster Cave restaurant in Beaumaris the next day.

Mick Gatto and Jamal Khan Mohammad.
Mick Gatto and Jamal Khan Mohammad.
Detectives from Victoria Police’s organised crime Viper task force arrested Mr Mohammad at his Beaumaris house later that day where they uncovered two firearms.

In court documents, Mr Mohammad alleges the guns had his fingerprints on them and were found in the boot of his cousin’s Range Rover parked on the street.

But he denies he owned them, instead claiming they were planted in the vehicle by Mr Wright six days earlier.

Mr Mohammad alleges Mr Wright, on the instruction of Mr Gatto, obtained his fingerprints by tricking him into picking up the weapons at an earlier meeting.

Victoria Police has also been named as a defendant in the lawsuit, with Mr Mohammad alleging detectives ignored his explanation and unlawfully arrested him.

“The Plaintiff seeks aggravated damages for distress, pain, insult, hurt, humiliation and the

like, including by being arrested in public, handcuffed and falsely put under duress for over

a year,” court documents state.

Mr Mohammad alleges Mr Gatto conspired to have trumped up firearm charges brought against him. Picture: Andrew Henshaw
Mr Mohammad alleges Mr Gatto conspired to have trumped up firearm charges brought against him. Picture: Andrew Henshaw
Mr Mohammad, the former owner of Port Melbourne restaurant Waterfront, and Mr Gatto, were once friends but fell out amid a deepening dispute over an alleged $4m debt Mr Mohammad claims he is owed.

In February, he filed 10 private charges against Mr Gatto, including blackmail, extortion with threats to kill, assault and firearms offences, some of which related to business dealings and dated back 25 years.
The Office of Public Prosecutions took over the private prosecution and charged Mr Gatto in September after considering evidence compiled by Mr Mohammad.

When approached for comment, Mr Gatto told the Herald Sun Mr Mohammad was a vexatious litigant.

“The courts have better things to do than put up with a clown like him,” he said.

Victoria Police and Mr Wright declined to comment.

Latest on the LaTorre hit. Nothing really new, I’m gonna try and find out who he’s referring to as travelling to Italy. The one that happened 10 years ago was Tomato Tins Pat Barbaro.

Potential motive emerges for John Latorre murder outside Greenvale home

A new theory of how mafia captain and greengrocer John Latorre angered his bosses in Italy has emerged as a potential motive for his execution.

Mark Buttler
2 min read
October 24, 2024 - 5:00AM

Police will investigate the possibility of revenge attacks after a Melbourne fruit and vegetable wholesaler with links to mafia figures was gunned down in the driveway of his Greenvale home.
Calabrian mafia dons’ anger at a senior Melbourne soldier doing business outside their networks has emerged as a motive for his murder.

Well-connected underworld sources say John Latorre had been involved in drug trafficking beyond the “right channels” in the period before he was murdered outside his Greenvale home on March 12.

Latorre was regarded as a captain in the Melbourne Honored Society, an organisation which takes a dim view of its leading players working outside of its structures.

“They’re pretty strict on that. He paid the price,” a source said.

“They don’t like to miss out on getting their lick of the Icy Pole.”

The Herald Sun has been told an influential Melbourne representative of the Ndrangheta had flown to Italy in recent months to “make the peace”.

Australian members of the Calabrian mafia are heavily accountable to their superiors in the old country.

Fruiterer John Latorre was gunned down outside his Greenvale home as he left in the early hours to head to work at Melbourne Markets. Picture: Supplied.
Fruiterer John Latorre was gunned down outside his Greenvale home as he left in the early hours to head to work at Melbourne Markets. Picture: Supplied.
One interstate group was ordered to make amends after a major drug importation was foiled by police in recent years.

That left Calabrian investors out of pocket for many millions of dollars.

Another senior player, who is now in jail, had to travel to Italy to smooth the waters after a huge importation came undone more than a decade ago.

Latorre had for years been the subject of police scrutiny over his mafia connections.

He was suspected of involvement in a 2020 “black flight” importation of $80m in cocaine, which went sour when an overloaded plane carrying the drugs crashed in Papua New Guinea.

Victoria Police declined to comment on the Latorre case.

It’s believed the shooter in the well-organised hit left the scene on a small motorcycle. Picture: Nicki Connolly
It’s believed the shooter in the well-organised hit left the scene on a small motorcycle. Picture: Nicki Connolly
Police try to comfort family at the scene of the crime. Picture: Nicki Connolly
Police try to comfort family at the scene of the crime. Picture: Nicki Connolly
Melbourne’s underworld was abuzz in March with talk that the suspected contract killing was the work of a fly-in fly-out triggerman.

It was carried out in the style of many other Italian organised crime ambushes in Melbourne over the decades.

The shooter was clearly well-briefed on his target, sitting off his Buchanan Place house in darkness and pouncing at 4.30am.

That person would have known Latorre left at around that time to get to work at the Melbourne Markets by 5am.

Police believe the killer then escaped on a small motorcycle.

It has shaped as a highly challenging inquiry from day one because of the apparent professionalism with which it was carried out.

Melbourne has a long history of unsolved mafia killings, the shooters and those who commissioned the crimes protected by the code of silence known as omerta.

Latorre was well-connected in the underworld and liked by many.

He was friendly with prominent mafia figure Frank Madafferi, who was released from prison in August after serving time over the colossal Tomato Tins drug bust of 2007.

Madafferi went straight from prison to immigration custody, pending deportation.

UNODC report exposes escalating threat of organized crime in the Pacific
https://www.unodc.org/roseap/en/2024/10 ... story.html

The report (which I haven't read yet):

https://www.unodc.org/roseap/uploads/do ... c_2024.pdf

B.C. border agents seize more meth destined for Australia
The illegal drugs were found hidden inside wrapped birthday gifts, plastic bottles and a blanket
https://vancouversun.com/news/bc-border ... -australia

Canadian man busted at Aussie border after 15 kilos of meth allegedly found in his suitcase
https://nationalpost.com/news/canadian- ... lia-border

Interesting that Ghost was being used by a guy in Puglia, I’d read a little on Kinahan involvement too.

More on the Ghost saga. Including one of the Italian arrests;

Mafia don’ caught, Irish cartel raided as fallout from Sydney Ghost network goes global
Perry Duffin
By Perry Duffin
September 23, 2024 — 5.00am
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International crime figures, including an alleged Italian mafia member and an infamous Irish crime family, have been arrested after Australian authorities infiltrated an encrypted crime network, known as Ghost, and captured its alleged mastermind in Sydney.

The foreign arrests reveal a strange echo in the underworld; criminals are accused of using encrypted devices while in prison to import weapons and cut deals with prosecutors.

Alleged mafia boss Giovanni Parlangeli was arrested in Lecce, in southern Italy, as part of global raids following the breach of the encrypted Ghost phone network.
Alleged mafia boss Giovanni Parlangeli was arrested in Lecce, in southern Italy, as part of global raids following the breach of the encrypted Ghost phone network.
The Australian Federal Police last week revealed they had infiltrated the encrypted platform Ghost, which was being used exclusively by criminals to organise multimillion-dollar drug deals and violence across the underworld.

The alleged mastermind, a 32-year-old Sydney man, was hauled out of his parents’ home on Tuesday morning and charged with supporting a criminal organisation, dealing with the proceeds of crime, and cryptocurrency offences.

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Jay Jung, who allegedly built Ghost in 2017, will remain in prison on remand while his lawyer, Jason Pham, considers options for the “geeky” computer whiz who had never been in trouble with the law until last week.

Dozens more alleged Ghost users were rounded up across Australia, accused of using the platform to organise massive drug importations, violent retributions and gun sales.

Latest figures from the AFP show 46 have been arrested and more than $4.1 million has been seized including more than $800,000 in crypto and $1 million in property.

Ireland’s police, the Gardaí, released images of raids that netted 11 alleged organised crime figures following the Ghost breach by the AFP.
Ireland’s police, the Gardaí, released images of raids that netted 11 alleged organised crime figures following the Ghost breach by the AFP.
But as the Ghost users sit behind bars in Australia, authorities around the world have also rounded up criminals caught up in Ghost’s breach.

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The AFP said while almost 400 of the 600 active Ghost phones were in Australia, the others were in Italy, Ireland, Canada and Sweden.

Anti-mafia investigators last week stormed a farmhouse in Italy’s southern region of Puglia at dawn and located Giovanni Parlangeli.

The alleged mafia boss had been off the grid since last year – until the Ghost breach, authorities say.

Cash seized in Ireland as part of the crackdown on Ghost users.
Cash seized in Ireland as part of the crackdown on Ghost users.
Local media described Parlangeli as a “boss” or senior figure who linked two organised crime clans in the region. He had false documents for travelling abroad and ammunition stocked in the farmhouse, authorities allege.

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After Australia, Ghost’s biggest user base was Ireland, and it was there authorities made almost a dozen arrests.

Drugs, cryptocurrency and cash were seized in bulk, Ireland’s police, the Gardaí, said.

Jung was arrested early on Tuesday by the AFP after they infiltrated the Ghost network allegedly run from his bedroom.
Jung was arrested early on Tuesday by the AFP after they infiltrated the Ghost network allegedly run from his bedroom.CREDIT: AFP
Gardaí seized 42 Ghost phones but believe there are about 100 in the country, the public broadcaster RTE said.

Four unnamed gangs were caught up in the arrests, authorities said, including members of a group known as The Family – the country’s biggest drug importers.

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The Family have only recently ascended over Ireland’s last generation of powerful gangs, particularly the Kinahan cartel.

Gardaí were asked if Kinahan members were also among those caught using Ghost phones; they declined to comment but said those arrested were “high-value” targets.

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The father of Jay Je Yoon Jung at his family business on Wednesday. The family are struggling to grasp the allegations against their studious son.
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“We want to be sure they are feeling vulnerable around their communications and how they work with one another. That gives us investigative opportunities. The upper echelons within the organised crime groups were using the ‘Ghost’ system,” Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said.

The AFP also claim they uncovered a complicated plot being organised from a NSW prison, using Ghost, that seems to mirror an infamous Kinahan conspiracy.

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The AFP said Guy Habkouk, who is in custody accused of a massive heroin importation, had allegedly communicated over Ghost to source rocket launchers, machine guns, grenades and terrorist insignia.

Habkouk’s plan, the AFP alleges, was to alert authorities to a fake terrorist plot in exchange for a lighter sentence for his alleged heroin dealing. His brother, Wade, was convicted earlier this year for his role in the drug deal. Guy is fighting the charge.

But Guy Habkouk’s alleged plan to cut a deal with the courts resembles on that the Kinahan family played out in 2020.

Two Kinahan gang leaders organised to have guns buried on a farm in Ireland and then tipped prosecutors off to their location, claiming they had intelligence about weapon smuggling.

The goal was to have the courts cut them a lighter deal for co-operating.

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But the Kinahans were not aware EncroChat, the encrypted app they favoured, had already been breached by police.

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The mastermind, the Ghost and the global crime network
The Kinahans were charged with weapons and conspiring to pervert the course of justice in their drug trials.

The demise of EncroChat, along with its rivals Phantom Secure and Sky ECC, helped steer criminals toward Ghost, the AFP said.

Tmr88 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 19, 2024 5:31 pm lol what a red hot number plate!
I can’t imagine them gleaning too much new info from the ioc angle, they would’ve kept chat on them platforms to a minimum after Ironside. But also, crooks love to brag to other crooks

Ikr? Isn’t that so uniquely Australian for a Korean kid who lives with his parents. This is part of the where the “transnational” in transnational organised crime comes from.

Yep, there’s couple more cases winding thru the courts related to this GHOST thing. There seems to have been a good amount of people using it, and it also sounds like LE got their hands on a unit.

lol what a red hot number plate!
I can’t imagine them gleaning too much new info from the ioc angle, they would’ve kept chat on them platforms to a minimum after Ironside. But also, crooks love to brag to other crooks

This stuff going down with Ghost is fascinating. Jay Je Yoon Jung, 32 years old, living with his parents and ostensibly working days at their business. Only real sign of wealth was a black 2015 Benz with the numberplate “GHOST”. Lol

Apparently he would buy the handsets, install Ghost on the phone and sell them for $2k a pop through a network of dealers. Investigators “found” their way in, lol, somebody gave up a phone. Apparently the guy responsible for all the coke washing up on Australia’s East Coast a couple months back was using Ghost.

Sounds like mostly biker and MEOC in Australia, but the reports make a point of mentioning members of “the Italian Mafia”. I’m not sure yet if those arrests occurred in Australia..? Reports so far only drips and drabs about cases are coming out. I’ll try and check the court lists.


So far there’s mainly cases in Sydney, a whole MEOC crew named. In Adelaide there’s a case involving a local celebrity and another guy, one Sahand Sabermanesh, 39. He was in Brisbane when he heard from a neighbour that his house was being raided. Rather than run he returned to Adelaide and copped to a meth charge.

Australian police infiltrate encrypted messaging app Ghost and arrest dozens
https://apnews.com/article/australia-gh ... 18c0d7765d

Excerpt: “We allege hundreds of criminals including Italian organized crime, motorcycle gang members, Middle Eastern organized crime and Korean organized crime have used Ghost in Australia and overseas to import illicit drugs and order killings,” [Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Ian] McCartney told reporters.
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Australian man allegedly behind secret messaging app used by gangs to plot murders, plan kidnappings, traffic drugs arrested
https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-ne ... 5f357b617d
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'Ghost' cybercrime platform dismantled in global operation, 51 arrested
https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybe ... 024-09-18/