NZ surveillance target attempts to flog tracking kit
Kiwi 'Keystone Cops' uncloaked
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A New Zealand man under covert electronic surveillance by police turned the tables on his snoopers by attempting to sell tracking kit he found in his car.
Ralph Williams, of Cromwell in central Otago, discovered a pair of tracking devices hidden in his daughter's and flatmate's cars after both vehicles were seized by police as part of an investigation. Rather than throwing the tracking devices away in a fit of pique, Williams enterprisingly offered the kit for sale on Trade Me, a local listings site.
The cars were seized in July as part of an investigation into the arson of an unmarked police car, according to Williams. Nothing was found and both vehicles were returned to their owners. Williams contacted the police to complain that they were no longer running smoothly. After failing to get any explanation Williams searched the cars and discovered the GPS location devices, concealed behind panels in the passenger-side footwells of each car.
Williams said that the SIM card in one of the devices was programmed to send location messages to a mobile belonging to Detective Sergeant Derek Shaw of the central Otago police force. The police are neither confirming nor denying that they planted the tracking devices.
Once the game was up Williams and Shaw entered into a dialogue. DS Shaw allegedly told Williams by phone that the devices were valuable and should be returned. The two also corresponded by email. Williams showed reporters copies of emails, purportedly from DS Shaw, that said "If you have got something of ours it would be good to get it back. You can call me and I can come meet you."
Williams remained unmoved by these pleas and put one of the devices up for sale on Trade Me at a price of NZ$250. His accompanying blurb read "Used government covert surveillance tracking. No police to bid on this."
The listing was quickly pulled by Trade Me last week "at the request of the New Zealand Police", the NZ Press reports.
Williams spent two years behind bars 20 years ago after he was caught selling cannabis to an undercover cop, but said he's been going straight since then. He told reporters that he had no idea why police had taken such a close interest in him.
It's also unclear whether or not a warrant was obtained to plant the tracking devices.
Asked for comment, DS Shaw declined to shed any light on the mysterious affair, declining to answer question for reasons of "operational secrecy". "Police use a variety of legitimate investigation techniques when investigating serious crime. However, it is not the policy of the police to comment on those techniques or other operational matters." ®
COMMENTS
the plot thickens
Yesterday Williams appeared before the Queenstown court on charges of stealing police property, threatening to kill in 1985 supplying drugs in 1985 etc. apparently a person living on his property has claimed that he and williams torched a police car and damaged tyres on another two vehicles in July. Strange to say but this man is the same man that claims williams threatened to kill him in 1985 and offered him drugs. Odd that he would want to go and live there a couple of months ago.. I think the NZ Police are grasping at short straws. Incidently this has all been the result of a vindictive wifes attempt to gain the property..
thot plickens
rumour has it that this guy, if he is not a figment of El Reg imagination, taped a phone call with the local plods who offered him the usual deal, ie give us all our gear back and we'll let you off
rumour has it that he set up a meet with der plods to do just that, after posting the tape of the phone call, if it actually happened, to a dead-tree branch of the media
rumour has it that at the appointed time the plods turned up and arrested him
rumour has it that he was charged and that at the subsequent court appearance, all details were suppressed, which fact was allowed to be reported and was in about two sentences.
new zealand is a long-time democratic society with a free press which would not put up with the plods saving themselves embarrassment of being found out by relying on suppression orders so obviously nothing here, move along please
@Monty
"Damn, bang goes the in-car GPS sector. LOL"
Ummm, have you tried using in car GPS? Ours doesn't work if it;s located under the A pillars. The metal blocks the signal. It needs clear sight of the sky (doesn't even work in the house)
The mil version is a lot stronger but the public one struggles to penetrate light clouds from my experience :o(
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