FBI Arrest Anonymous Member Kahuna as CabinCr3w Cell Says Farewell Hacking

A member of the Anonymous hacking collective has been arrested by the FBI in the United States on charges of breaching the websites of Utah Chiefs of Police Association and the Salt Lake City Police Department.

John Anthony Borell III, who pleaded not guilty at federal court in Salt Lake City, faces 10 years in prison and a$250,000 (£156,700)fine if convicted.

Prosecutors say Borell, from Ohio, intruded on the chiefs' website server on 19 January and then broke into the police department's website on 31 January.

Borell claimed responsibility for the attacks on Twitter under the username ItsKahuna. FBI investigators tracked him down through the IP addresses associated with the account.

After the hacks, the 21-year-old exchanged messages with national media outlets Fox News and the Associated Press.

"The police are the foot soldiers of this government-controlled police state, this op will target them and spread the word that we will not stand and let this oppression continue," ItsKahuna wrote in a direct Message to Fox via Twitter.

Authorities had said the hackers who assaulted the Salt Lake City Police Department website stole data on citizen complaints about drugs and other crimes, including phone numbers, addresses and other data about informants.

The development came after CabinCr3w, an offshoot of the Anonymous hacking collective, has published a farewell video to all its supporters in the aftermath of the arrest of one of its prominent members in Australia. Higinio O Ochoa III, from Texas, has been charged by the FBI with hacking into the websites of US law enforcement agencies and publishing personal information on police officers, including their home addresses, home and mobile phone numbers.

Authorities tracked down his identity and whereabouts from a graphic cleavage shot of a bikini-clad woman, published on his website in February. The FBI was able to trace the GPS co-ordinates from the picture, which led to a Melbourne suburb, where Ochoa was arrested.

In its final video, CabinCr3w announces that it will merge into the larger Anonymous collective to "do even more work in the furtherance of justice and transparency on a larger scale".

"Many of our brothers and sisters are still facing court battles for their hard work to expose corruption and abuse wherever they may find it and many more battles need to be fought," the video says, adding that the cell is embarking on a new beginning, rather than actually saying goodbye.

Five hacktivists from the Anonymous offshoot Lulzsec were arrested in March by law enforcement officials in Europe and the US, who acted on information disclosed under duress by the group's prominent leader, Hextor Xavier Mensegu, or Sabu. LulzSec is allegedly responsible for billions of dollars in damage to governments, international banks and corporations through coordinated cyber attacks.

For further news on Anonymous's recent activities, check out the IBTimes UK Cyber Warfare section.