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Close to US$4 million (S$5.3 million) in illicit funds linked to a group that provided encrypted telecommunication devices and network services used by transnational organised criminal syndicates has been seized in Singapore.

About US$3.97 million was seized from four bank accounts here by the Singapore Police Force's Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) and the US authorities, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Monday.

The funds belonged to Phantom Secure, an encrypted telecommunications network used by transnational organised criminal syndicates. The amount has been repatriated to the US, according to announcements from the Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California.

The seizure of the funds follows the indictment of Vincent Ramos, the chief executive of Canada-based Phantom Secure, and four of his associates, by a US federal grand jury in March 2018.

The five were accused of ope-rating a criminal enterprise that facilitated the transnational importation and distribution of narcotics through the sale and service of encrypted telecommu-nications devices and services to drug traffickers.

According to court documents, Phantom Secure had advertised that its "uncrackable" phones were impervious to decryption, wire-tapping or legal third-party records requests. It also provided a service to guarantee the destruction of evidence contained in the device if it were ever compromised by an informant, or if law enforcement acquired it.

In 2018, Ramos pleaded guilty to leading a criminal enterprise that facilitated the transnational importation and distribution of narcotics including cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine to the US through the sale of these encrypted devices.

Ramos was sentenced to 108 months in prison, and the Phantom Secure network has been shut down.

As part of his guilty plea, Ramos agreed to an US$80 million forfeiture money judgment. He also agreed to give up tens of millions of dollars in identified assets in bank accounts worldwide, as well as houses, a Lamborghini, cryptocurrency accounts and gold coins. The money repatriated from Singapore was among the assets identified by investigators to be forfeited.

The DOJ said Ramos' customers used his products to devastating and sometimes deadly effect. For instance, a 2014 Australian Broadcasting Corporation news article reported that investigations into a gangland murder in Sydney were stymied because the suspects used Phantom Secure devices to coordinate the killing.

Ramos had used this news to market his encryption services to criminals across the world, writing: "This is the best verification on what we have been saying all along - proven and effective for now over nine years. It is the highest level of authority confirming our effectiveness. It can't get better than that."

The DOJ said it had worked closely with Singapore's CAD since 2018 to identify and seize the funds linked to the sale of Phantom Secure devices. It commended the efforts of its Singapore counterparts in identifying, freezing and repatriating proceeds of Ramos' criminal enterprise.

Ms Suzanne Turner, special agent in charge at the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, said: "The repatriation of close to US$4 million by our Singapore-based partners ensures that Vincent Ramos and the leaders of Phantom Secure will pay for their crimes."

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S'pore seizes $5.3m in illicit funds linked to Canadian network used by crime syndicates - The Straits Times