Jay Je Yoon Jung lived a life away from the public eye, until global ...

Jay Je Yoon Jung seemed like the perfect son. 

During the day he worked for his parents' commercial cleaning business but by night he was allegedly the mastermind behind the communications platform Ghost.

The AFP alleges Ghost was created by Mr Jung nine years ago and has been used solely by the criminal underworld to organise high level drug importation and trafficking, threats to kill and the sale of firearms by crime syndicates globally.

It's alleged Mr Jung was just 23 years old when he first created the platform, which the AFP says has since been an app favoured by Italian gangs in Victoria, bikies in Western Australia and Middle Eastern organised crime syndicates in New South Wales.

Mr Jung allegedly created a business model that involved selling handsets installed with his app for $2345, which included a six-month subscription.

The AFP key for how they say Ghost was distributed and used. (Supplied)

"We will be alleging that the administrator has reaped significant financial wealth from running this platform and selling the services," AFP Commander Paula Hudson said.

The AFP alleged there were 389 active handsets in Australia being used by criminals.

Commander Hudson said the widespread usage came through gangland communications.

AFP Commander Paula Hudson alleges the accused made millions from Ghost. (ABC News: Jerry Rickard)

"It's absolutely through recommendation, word of mouth," she told 7.30.

"This is the business model and criminal syndicates, the way they operate, is through word of mouth ... for ultimate security."

It's alleged Mr Jung even had the final say on who could be approved to use his platform and provided technical support to those who needed it.

His alleged involvement in administering Ghost and helping those who used it, is at odds with what seemed to be a quiet existence.

Jay Je Yoon Jung is led away by an Australian Federal Police officer. (Supplied)

Mr Jung lived a low-key life with his parents in the south-western Sydney suburb of Narwee and didn't have a partner. He did however enjoy karaoke.

The AFP described him as "quite socially awkward".

The AFP has told 7.30 they were aware of the Ghost platform seven years ago but French authorities alerted them to the app potentially being run by an Australian in 2021.

An AFP commander cited an image of a dog sitting on a pile of cash with the name and mobile number of its owner and stockpiles of methamphetamine as examples of messages sent through the app.

AFP Assistant Commissioner Kirsty Schofield said threats to kill were also prominent and that the AFP mitigated 50, including one in which they witnessed an image of a direct threat.

"On one occasion we could see over the platform an image of a person who had a firearm to their head," Assistant Commissioner Schofield said.

"We had an hour in which to respond to that threat and pass that information to our state and territory partners to mitigate that threat."

While the AFP were tipped off in 2021 it was not until March this year when they successfully got inside the Ghost platform, and were able to infect handsets installed with the app through a 'virus-like' technical solution.

The AFP have several techniques available to them when it comes to encrypted data. (ABC News: Jerry Rickard)

Commander Rob Nelson is head of the AFP's Covert and Technical team  and told 7.30 he believed the methodology to be a world first in law enforcement.

"Our techs were able to identify the opportunity to use the access to these devices for us to be able to infiltrate the network and access those devices," Commander Nelson said.

"In the circumstances of Kraken, it was really some very smart software engineering and modification of updates to those devices to essentially turn them into surveillance devices."

The concern now for the AFP will turn to whether the courts find the methods they used lawful.

"[Now] we move into the prosecution phase, and that in itself, is a significant body of work," Commander Nelson said.

"We have to put what we've done before court and demonstrate to them the method in which we've employed and give confidence that that was lawful."

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