Tirana – The Albanian Parliament looks set to vote today on the establishment of a special investigative committee to check on how an Italian IMSI-Catcher tapping device has been used by the Interior Ministry of Albania
The Committee will be composed of 11 MPs led by the Opossition, which demanded its created in the first place.
For 6 months the special investigative committee will look at the implementation of current legislation on uses of devices such as IMSI-Catcher’ and will also seek to clarify how this device was moved, transported and used aroung the territory of Albania.
Since the dodgy affair came to light, opossition representatives have claimed there is credible information that the tapping device brought to Albania by their Italian counterparts as part of a training programme for the Albanian Police, may have been used illegaly to tap and intercept telephones of crucial Albanian politicians and officials.
While the General Prosecutor has already started investigating with high police officials being called in for questioning, the parliamentary committee will look at the legality of its use and how the Albanian authorities have acted during its operation.
Italian Media claimed last May that the scandal may expose a ‘secret pact’ between Italy and Albania to hide the real usage of the Big Brother device around Albania.
The IMSI-Catcher spying device was brought to Albania through Italian diplomatic channels at the Port of Durres and according to reports, its entry into Albanan territory was never registered as Albanian law requires
An IMSI-catcher is a telephone eavesdropping device used for intercepting mobile phone traffic and tracking movement of mobile phone users. Essentially a “fake” mobile tower acting between the target mobile phone and the service provider’s real towers, it is considered a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack. IMSI-catchers are used in some countries by law enforcement and intelligence agencies, but their use has raised significant civil liberty and privacy concerns.
The ‘Spy-Story’ could xpose a real scandal in Italian-Albanian police cooperation and may put a strain on diplomatic relations between the two neighboring countries.
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