A “couple of beers” between U.S. and Australian law enforcement officials morphed into a sprawling, sophisticated international criminal underworld takedown that thwarted dozens of murders, netted a mountain of drugs and led to more than 800 arrests, authorities said.
The operation dubbed “Trojan Shield” in the U.S. duped criminals across the globe into buying cellphones that had pre-loaded FBI software on them — and exposed Asian Triad gangs, Middle Eastern organized crime outfits, Latin American drug cartels and even biker crews to police investigators.
It has netted some 8 tons of…
