The police quickly repair the "Imsi-Catcher" device that eavesdropped on politicians!

Article 124 of the law on the State Police determines that the police can use secret cooperation with individuals, recording with cameras in public environments, surreptitious surveillance of persons and environments, as well as location tracking devices, in order to collect data. So the police use tracking devices only for location and not interception of calls. Later changes to the law removed the right to wiretapping, giving it to the National Bureau of Investigation. However, this has not prevented the police from using the much-debated Imsi-Catcher device, a much-debated device that was long ago investigated by the prosecutor's office for spying on politicians. At that time, the police were justified as training equipment, while now it is used at any time, especially during the "opposition protest season".

Facsimile: Notice of tender from the State Police for the repair of surveillance equipment

According to the documents available to VoxNews, the State Police has quickly opened a tender with the object "Technical support for DFPO", with a limit fund of 8,151,333 ALL without VAT, divided into lots. The first lot has a facility "service, technical support of the Environmental Monitoring Unit", with a fund of ALL 1,568,000 without VAT. As can be seen from the facility, the police have an entire surveillance unit, which they can use at any time. But, wasn't it defined in the law that the police can only do tracking?! This point remains very controversial, since now everything is done with the greatest normality, with excuses for the "war against crime", when in fact tens of times uniformed employees have been part of these groups.

The second lot of the police tender has an object "service, technical support of the MSCAN device", with a fund of 1,750,000 ALL without VAT. Meanwhile, the third lot is about the much debated device; "Service, technical support of the IMSI CATCHER device", with a limited fund of ALL 4,833,333 without VAT. But look at the deadline. The tender was launched at the end of October, the winner is announced in November and the firm has a deadline until December 30, 2024. Why is the police in a hurry? What do you want surveillance equipment for in 2025? We remind you that next year is an election year, as in many cases the opposition has accused the majority of routinely using the police. Even, the accusation that "politicians are being eavesdropped". Is this also the case?

The State Police Law states that the police only disclose the location

The State Police Law stipulates that the police only track the location. What is the purpose of the surveillance device in the police? And why is there an Interception Unit in the State Police?

In 2016, the Prosecutor's Office of Tirana launched an investigation into the surveillance device, which it never found after it was hidden in the headquarters of a foreign embassy. The device called Imsi-Catcher has the function of intercepting telephone communications between different individuals in a certain territory. At the time, the police denied such a device, saying it was only for training and was not used to eavesdrop on politicians.

Later developments also brought about the suspension from duty of the then director of the State Police, Haki Çako. However, like many other files, this one was shelved and Chako's suspension lasted only 2 weeks and only 3 years after the investigation was launched, the file was finally dismissed.

Now, many years after this scandal, the police tenders for the maintenance of such a device, which was "hidden" at that time. According to police, the device acts as a fake cell phone antenna and any phone near it can be intercepted on text and audio. In many countries of the world, interception by such a device has caused debates, due to the violation of privacy and has resulted in the drafting of strict laws.

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