FUP and Isak welcome seizure of IMSI Catcher devices: The BiH Prosecutor's Office should shed light on who conducted illegal wiretapping as soon as possible

(Patria) - SIPA officers raided the premises of the Federal Police Administration in Vraca on Friday morning to seize IMSI Catcher devices, which are suspected of being used for illegal tracking and wiretapping, Istraga.ba reported.

SIPA is conducting this operation based on an order from the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued at the request of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The FUP also commented on these activities, as did the Federal Minister of Interior, Ramo Isak.
"The Federal Police Administration welcomes the order of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina to seize the IMSI Catcher device, which is suspected of being used for the illegal conduct of special investigative actions.

The Director of the Federal Police Administration, Vahidin Munjić, is the only official of the Federal Police Administration who initiated an independent procedure for supervising the use of the IMSI Catcher device, with the aim of determining whether the device, which the Federal Police Administration procured in 2006, was illegally used for conducting special investigative actions. After an independent analysis of the IMSI Catcher device, which was carried out at the request of the Director of the Federal Police Administration, Vahidin Munjić, by the Intelligence and Security Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Director of the Federal Police Administration, Vahidin Munjić, submitted all documentation related to the IMSI Catcher device to the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and filed a criminal complaint with the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton due to grounds for suspicion that criminal offenses punishable under the provisions of the Criminal Code of the Federation of BiH had been committed.

The Federal Police Administration calls on the BiH Prosecutor's Office to conduct a thorough investigation in this case as soon as possible and to transparently inform the public about all details, given that there is a justified public interest due to suspicions of threats to the basic human rights of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina," the FUP stated.

Minister Isak welcomed the order of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina to seize the IMSI Catcher device.

"Numerous citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, after the established abuses of the intelligence and security apparatus in the previous term, contacted me due to suspicions that certain police officers of the FUP, at the behest of political power centers, were abusing the IMSI Catcher device that the Federal Police Administration procured in 2006.

We acted promptly and immediately submitted the IMSI Catcher device to the Intelligence and Security Agency of BiH for analysis in order to avoid any possibilities of manipulation of the device, i.e., deletion of data by FUP police officers. In this way, we protected both the FUP police officers from potential spin and the entire process of independent device analysis. The results of the analysis left us in shock. The device was used, for reasons unknown to us, without court orders, even though it is a device for conducting special investigative actions.

We immediately informed the BiH Prosecutor's Office of the analysis results, along with all accompanying documentation, and filed a criminal complaint with the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton due to suspicion of committing the criminal offense of abuse of position or authority under the Criminal Code of the Federation of BiH.

I welcome the order of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued at the request of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and call on the competent judicial institutions to conclude the investigation as soon as possible and to punish in the strictest manner the police officers who participated in any abuses of the IMSI Catcher device.

I consider it important to emphasize that the ministry I lead had nothing to do with the procurement of the IMSI Catcher device, given that the public procurement and public procurement plans of the Federal Police Administration are completely separate from the Federal Ministry of Interior," Minister Isak's response states.