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In this article, we analyze in detail the digital footprint of Oliver Andreas Herrmann, a 44-year-old German businessman and marathon runner who Australian police accuse of transporting 200 kg of cocaine worth 65 million Australian dollars.
On the last Friday of December, a small plane landed on a dusty airstrip in the Western Australian outback. It was met by a man in his 40s, a German businessman. The next evening, in the city of Perth, a few hundred kilometers away, the man and his companion were arrested by police. Both men were charged with trafficking a significant amount of illegal substances.
During searches of the hotel rooms where they were staying, 200 kilograms of cocaine were found, packaged in one-kilogram blocks and packed into suitcases. Investigators also found night-vision goggles, aviation equipment and a hardware crypto wallet.
The arrest was the result of a large-scale special operation that lasted three months. According to Australian law enforcement, the market value of the seized drugs could reach 65 million Australian dollars. Police officials said that an influential criminal organization was most likely behind this scheme.
The detainee was Oliver Andreas Herrmann, a 44-year-old German citizen who is known as a marathon champion and the head of several companies with assets in various countries.
Oliver Herrmann is pictured in an Australian media report from a photo on his Facebook page. Top left: Overlander Airport, where he allegedly met the plane on December 27, 2024. Bottom left: Cocaine seized by police in Perth. Right: Herrmann after being arrested by police. Source: Facebook/Oliver Herrmann, Google Street View, AFP.
Herrmann and another man charged are due to appear in court again in May. They have not yet pleaded guilty and are presumed innocent. Herrmann, who has no known criminal record, did not respond to multiple requests for comment at the time of publication.
In January, the Sunday Times reported that Herrmann had “close financial ties” to Christy Kinahan, the 67-year-old founder of an international drug cartel of the same name who is wanted by authorities around the world. Last month, it was reported that Herrmann was “acting as Kinahan’s on-the-ground representative” in Indonesia, and quoted a source as saying that Herrmann introduced him to the cartel leader.
“Kinahan was Oliver’s boss,” a source told The Sunday Times. “He was afraid of him. Kinahan was always shouting at him.”
Despite a $5 million reward for his capture, one of the most notorious crime bosses of our time has voluntarily revealed his whereabouts. In photos posted online, he posed at a luxury hotel in Budapest and an upscale restaurant in Dubai, despite being on the run from law enforcement.
The investigation revealed that the man known in criminal circles as “Dapper Don” had repeatedly left a digital trail, posting hundreds of online reviews under a false name. These actions inadvertently revealed his geolocation, allowing him to be tracked across three continents — including Dubai, where he is believed to be currently hiding.
At the same time, a thorough analysis of the digital activity of another individual, Oliver Andreas Herrmann, was conducted. A man suspected by Australian police of involvement in a large-scale drug trafficking operation during the Christmas holidays. Open-source data has helped to assemble a visual portrait of the suspect: he is a fierce marathon runner and an experienced businessman, who is accustomed to negotiations by the pool, not dangerous air operations in the Australian sands.
In January, The Sunday Times reported that Herrmann was linked to Irish drug lord Christy Kinahan. Inset: The West Australian reported on the trial of Herrmann and his co-defendants in January.
The investigation has found Herrmann at locations linked to the cartel, including a building in South Africa that Kinahan described on his Google Maps profile, and the Zimbabwean capital Harare the day before a conference the Irish drug lord said he attended.
It also sheds light on a complex network of international firms linked to Herrmann, either directly or through his associates. One of those firms shares an address with a company that reportedly received payments that ultimately went to Christy Kinahan.
Oliver Herrmann is a German national who called Munich his “hometown.” According to AFP, he also lives in South Africa and reportedly travels on a Swiss passport. Herrmann listed his nationality as Swiss in company documents filed in Singapore, while in UK registration documents he stated that he was German. He listed his countries of residence as Indonesia and Singapore.
Corporate documents show that Herrmann has held senior positions in companies operating in the financial technology, mining and consulting sectors. Until recently, he was a member of the board of a German “international raw materials company”, whose parent company, according to its official website, is listed on the Düsseldorf stock exchange. In February, the company said that after learning of Herrmann’s charges in Australia, he had been removed from his board of directors and no longer had any connection with the organisation.
Herrmann’s Instagram account is set to private, but he has a public profile on Strava, a fitness app used to record exercise that often includes GPS-tracked routes.
A renowned runner who won the 2016 Munich Marathon, Herrmann regularly logged his runs on Strava. Photos posted to the account confirm that he is the same man pictured in an Australian media report of his court appearance in January in connection with an alleged drug bust. Herrmann’s Strava account records more than 2,500 runs in 29 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East between 2013 and 2023. He has also posted at least 130 photos documenting his extensive travels. They show a dedicated athlete who seems to enjoy a laid-back lifestyle, many of which feature scenic and tropical locations.
Herrmann’s Strava account shows that he, like Kinahan, has traveled to Zimbabwe frequently. Analysis of Herrmann’s runs shows that he logged nearly 500 activities in Harare between February 2018 and May 2022. Meanwhile, Kinahan posted 25 Google reviews of Harare between June 2019 and September 2021.
In one of those reviews, the leader of a transnational organized crime syndicate said he spent four nights at the Amanzi Lodge for a “business networking conference” hosted by two companies. The conference ran from October 8 to 11, 2019, according to one of the company’s social media accounts. Two photos posted online show a man with similar features to Kinahan at the event.
On October 7, the day before the conference, Herrmann ran just 5.5km from where Kinahan said he stopped. Herrmann’s Strava activity in Harare in 2019 suggests he spent time near the location, near the affluent suburb of Borrowdale, where dozens of runs start and end on the same residential road. Herrmann’s next Strava run after October 7 was recorded three days later in Dublin, Ireland.
Herrmann’s two runs in 2021 and 2022 are taking place in downtown Dubai, approximately 250 and 550 meters from the office of a sanctioned company that the U.S. government says is owned or controlled by Kristy Kinahan’s son, Daniel Kinahan.
The 2021 run began and ended near the five-star hotel where Daniel Kinahan was photographed. The photo in the since-deleted tweet, which was the subject of media coverage at the time, was posted three days after Herrmann’s Strava run, geotagged Dubai. A reverse image search shows that Daniel Kinahan’s photo was taken at a hotel in Dubai.
Herrmann’s Strava profile also includes information about his business. A 2018 post titled “ZIM Office View” features a photo of an open document on a laptop screen. The document, titled “Mining Project Teaser,” highlights the appeal of Zimbabwe’s “open for business” policy to foreign investors.
The title lists “Gemini Global Pte Ltd,” a Singapore company of which Herrmann is a director and secretary, according to corporate documents. Herrmann reportedly filed a police complaint after Gemini lent $500,000 to an Indonesian mining project that failed in the early 2010s. More than two dozen runs logged by Herrmann start and end at the Singaporean company’s registered address.
Other locations logged on Strava appear to be linked to companies Herrmann is involved with, suggesting his frequent trips may be business-related. Some runs explicitly mention an office, including one in Singapore in 2015 and three in Dublin in 2016.
On Crunchbase, Herrmann is listed as the CFO of defunct Irish fintech company Leveris Limited, which reportedly collapsed in 2021 with debts of €38 million. Records from the Irish Companies Office show that he was also a director of the company. Herrmann logged Strava runs in Minsk and Prague, other cities where Leveris had business ties.
A number of companies involved in trading, real estate and corporate finance appear to be linked to Herrmann’s internal partner. The woman was identified through an analysis of her social media posts. Several users tagged the woman’s account in the comments on an Instagram post about his victory in the Munich Marathon. Herrmann’s Strava profile also follows a user with the same name and includes a photo of him with an identical-looking woman while running in France.
Analysis of the woman’s Strava account shows that several runs recorded in different countries over a period of six years match where Herrmann’s GPS-tracked routes start and end. She is tagged as a companion on at least one run recorded on Herrmann’s profile.
Three videos posted on the woman’s now-deleted Instagram account show a man who looks a lot like Herrmann hiking Table Mountain in Cape Town, visiting Mapungubwe National Park, and walking with two boys near Lake Kariba. The photos also show a boat ride and a walk on the beach with several children, in which a man with facial features similar to Herrmann is seen with his back to the camera. A photo posted on the woman’s Twitter account ten years ago also shows a man who looks like Herrmann.
The woman is also tagged in an Instagram post by a Thai mining magnate whose company is listed as a shareholder in the German company that recently removed Herrmann from its board. The Thai woman’s Instagram includes photos of Herrmann and his partner going back in time, including during a “business trip” to Dubai in 2022.
A search of open sources identified an individual with the same first and last name as Herrmann’s partner, who was involved in three companies. Corporate records show that she was listed as the owner of a defunct Indonesian real estate firm, PT. Gemini Nusa Land, and was previously a director of another company, also headquartered in Indonesia.
The third company is 247 Capital Group, registered in South Africa, where business data provider b2bhint.com lists her as a director. This information was verified through the South African government registry. The firm’s typical website describes it as a leading “corporate finance group” staffed by “specialist capital raising managers.” The website’s contact section lists two addresses: one is a small house on Long Island, New York; the other is a high-rise building in Johannesburg called “Leonardo.”
Herrmann’s Strava profile shows that he logged two morning runs that ended right outside The Leonardo, in April and May 2022. Kinahan has also been to The Leonardo: he wrote about a visit to the building and posted photos of the interior in Google Reviews for September 2021.
An analysis of the 247 Capital website using ViewDNS, a website inspection tool, found that it shares an IP address with three other sites. There are several reasons why websites might share IP addresses, and it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re related. However, in this case, there is evidence that 247 Capital may be related to other sites.
The first is for a US company, Ryba LLC; the second is for an Indonesian company, PT. Sukses Dagang Bersama (abbreviated “SDB Trading” online); and the third is a placeholder for a web developer who designed the websites for 247 Capital, Ryba LLC, and PT. Sukses Dagang Bersama.
Herrmann’s partner did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication. There is no suggestion that she was involved in any illegal activity.
Last year, The Sunday Times reported that a company with a mailing address in the Trump Building received two payments totaling $850,000. It said the funds were transferred to a company account in South Dakota, and the beneficiary was Adam Wood, a well-known associate of Kinahan who attended an aviation conference in Egypt in 2019 with the cartel leader. The newspaper said the payments were part of a series of international wire transfers totaling $1.25 million, with Kinahan as the ultimate beneficiary.
The Sunday Times reported today that $850,000 was made to Ryba LLC.
Ryba LLC’s website lists its address as Trump Building on Wall Street in New York. Companies with that name are registered in the US, but corporate records show none are based in New York.
A phone number on Ryba LLC’s website was linked to a New York law firm through the crowdsourcing phonebook app TrueCaller. An online search for the firm shows it has an office in the Trump Building, and a search for the Long Island address listed on 247 Capital’s website showed a match for a lawyer working for the firm.
The Long Island address also appeared in a small claims court filing, where a lawyer who works at Trump’s building was named as the owner of the home. A digital copy of the deed from the Nassau County Clerk’s Office shows that the attorney bought the home 25 years ago.
According to the lawyer’s bio, they are “anti-money laundering specialists” who work in financial and tax planning, trust and estate administration, and asset protection. The lawyer and the firm did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication. There is no suggestion that the lawyer or the firm are involved in any illegal activity.
A LinkedIn search for personnel working at Ryba LLC yielded an employee who listed their current position as senior project finance manager at the company. Their previous position, according to the profile, was head of accounting at Leveris, an Irish company where Hermann previously served as CFO.
The employee did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication. There is no suggestion that they were involved in any illegal activity.
In Indonesia, a company called PT. Sukses Dagang Bersama was discovered, which, according to official documents, was related to Oliver Herrmann’s former business partner, Conor Fennelly. He was listed as an authorized person, although he himself denies any involvement in this company.
Fennelly claims that he has never heard of this company, was not aware of its activities and did not sign any documents related to it. After being presented with business papers with his name, address and passport details, he confirmed that the information was valid, but added that he did not consent to the use of his data. According to him, this information could have been available to Herrmann and several other people from the time they worked together at Leveris.
The company was established in 2013 under a different name – Maksimum Jaya Segar. From 2017 to 2021, the company was headed by a person with a name that exactly matches that of Herrmann’s current partner. Its address is in a residential area near Jakarta, where Herrmann and his partner have registered for numerous marathons.
Fennelly said he met Herrmann in 2016 through a partner at Leveris, after which he became an investor in the company and took up the position of CFO. Until the time of Herrmann’s arrest in Australia, Fennelly perceived him as a calm, competent and reliable person. According to him, the news of the detention came as a complete surprise to him. He also added that Herrmann probably lived in Zimbabwe and was an avid runner.
PT. Sukses Dagang Bersama was involved in the sale of an aircraft that was exported from the United States to Africa last year. FAA documents state that the company purchased the aircraft – a Beechcraft King Air 350 – in early 2024.
Flight tracking website ADS-B Exchange shows the twin-turboprop aircraft arrived in Harare after the final leg of its journey on February 23, 2024. The pilot of the ferry that carried the aircraft posted images of the journey on Facebook that were tagged in Harare that same day. The aircraft has been active since delivery, traveling to airports in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Botswana. Images taken by spotters in South Africa in April and May 2024 show the aircraft with the Malawian registration number 7Q-YAO on its side.
Two days after the plane was delivered to Harare, the pilot posted a photo of himself with three other men in front of the plane with the caption “Reception demonstration flight.” The pilot and one of the men had previously flown another plane, a Pilatus PC-12, which was associated with a company linked to Kinahan.
The $850,000 payment to Ribi was linked to a dispute over the purchase of that plane, The Sunday Times reported.
The pilot posted the photo on Facebook before the Pilatus PC-12 was transported from South Africa to the United States in 2022 after it was sold to an unrelated buyer. But three years earlier, the Pilatus PC-12 was pictured on Twitter by CVK Investments LLC, a company that Irish police say was linked to Kinahan.
The July 2019 post said CVK was investing in an aircraft for a “joint venture for ambulances in Africa.” The aircraft pictured in the post has the serial number “342,” which matches the aircraft in the pilot’s Facebook post. While the aircraft’s registration number can change, the serial number is assigned by the manufacturer and remains the same.
The second man is a Malawian aviation authority employee, who is mentioned in a Facebook photo as one of the pilots on a flight in August 2021 in a Pilatus PC-12 linked to Kinahan.
The Malawian-registered aircraft was identified by its registration number at the time, “7Q-XRP,” which is visible on the control panel in the photo. The cockpit is identical to the one depicted in a Google review posted by Kinahan a month later in September 2021.
The pilots did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication. There is no suggestion that they were involved in any illegal activity or that one of the planes was flying to Australia.
PT. Sukses Dagang Bersama is also listed in public records for import/export of mineral-related and narcotics-related goods between countries including India, Nigeria, Peru, Turkey and Russia.
Records from import/export data provider 52wmb show that in one 2023 shipment from India to Nigeria, PT. Sukses Dagang Bersama is listed in the product description for the delivery of the drug “Pentazocine Injection,” a medical opioid that is also reportedly abused and sold on the underground market in Nigeria.
Another company, Turkoca Import Export Transit Co Ltd., is also listed in the product description field. In May 2022, the Korean company was sanctioned by the US for its involvement in an Iran-linked oil smuggling and money laundering ring.
Product descriptions typically include information about the goods being exported. A potential explanation for the company names appearing in this section is that they are “notifying parties,” meaning entities such as buyers, suppliers, and brokers who must be notified of the arrival of the shipment. PT. Sukses Dagang Bersama is listed as a “notifying party” in the product description for another shipment to Nigeria from another Indian pharmaceutical company.
PT. Sukses Dagang Bersama is also listed in import records for 2024 for shipments of heavy equipment accessories to Turkey from a Peruvian mining equipment manufacturer. It also appears in the Dataontrade.com records as an exporter of “spare parts” for similar equipment, this time from Turkey to Russia.
Oliver Herrmann did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication. Herrmann’s lawyer said, “I am not authorized to comment on these matters.”
Emails to 247 Capital Group, Ryba LLC, and PT. Sukses Dagang Bersama were not returned.
Oliver Herrmann and his co-accused, Australian Hamish Scott Falconer, 48, appeared in Perth Magistrates Court in January. Both men were charged with one count of trafficking a commercial quantity of cocaine.
Herrmann also faces four counts of failing to comply with an order, according to a report in The West Australian, while Falconer also faces one count of possession of a controlled drug and one count of failing to comply with an order.
Local media reported that neither man had applied for bail and no pleas had been entered.
The Australian Federal Police said the men were arrested in Perth’s central business district on December 28 as part of an operation that began in October.
AFP said the men met at Perth airport in November and travelled to Cojonup Airport, about 250km south of Perth. Investigators said the pair flew out of Western Australia in the following days but later returned separately.
Police said Falconer returned to Perth on December 26, where he hired a car and transported several suitcases and canisters. Herrmann allegedly met a small plane on the Overlander runway on December 27, returning to Perth and meeting Falconer the next day. Police said the men bought more suitcases before dumping them and the canisters in a shopping centre bin.
According to law enforcement, during a search of the hotel room where Falconer was staying, about 200 kilograms of cocaine were found, packed in six suitcases. Also among the seized items were electronic devices, night vision goggles and a VHF radio. Four empty suitcases, aviation navigation equipment, a hardware crypto wallet and a number of other electronics were found in Herrmann’s room.
Both men have been formally charged with trafficking a large consignment of prohibited substances. This is a serious criminal offense, which carries a maximum penalty of up to 25 years in prison.
According to local media, Herrmann and Falconer will appear in court again in May.
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