The United States may be using ” cellphone-sniffing planes” to spot suspects across the world, a report said.
The U.S. Marshal’s secret program to use a plane, equipped to function like a cellphone tower, to locate specific fugitive was revealed in November. While flying over an urbane area, the plane can spot the location of a single number amid a million or more phones with pinpoint accuracy, reported The Verge.
The report said that the technology is believed to have originated with the CIA , which guided the initial deployment of the planes by the Marshal Service. It is still used to locate intelligence targets overseas.
The technology, which constitutes a powerful weapon in the U.S. intelligence efforts abroad, also reveals a troubling trend of foreign intelligence tools used for domestic law enforcement purposes. (ANI)