Digital trail to oblivion: Mobile data used to abduct, vanish victims
The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance has found that the mobile surveillance system was used in pinpointing the location of the victims of the enforced disappearance prior to picking them up secretly.
“Interviews with the victims and the members of the Armed Forces confirm that mobile technology was integral to the surveillance process. In interviews, RAB and military officers indicated that ‘silent pick-ups’—unobtrusive abductions—were virtually impossible without mobile surveillance to pinpoint the victim’s location with precision,” said the Commission report.
The five-member commission, led by retired justice Mainul Islam Chowdhury, recently presented the report, titled "Unfolding the Truth," to Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus at the state guest house Jamuna.
Prior to the establishment of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC) as an independent agency, the report said that the mobile surveillance was conducted through its predecessor, the National Monitoring Centre (NMC), which was housed within the DGFI (Directorate General of Forces Intelligence) Headquarters.
The DGFI provided dedicated surveillance systems, which were also used by other forces, such as RAB and DB, implicating the DGFI in abetting the commission of enforced disappearances by forces other than its own, it said, adding that the NMC hosted dedicated consoles manned by personnel from various agencies, working in rotating shifts.
A former DG of DGFI also confirmed to the Commission that his organization provided logistics support related to surveillance to various law enforcement teams whilst NMC was housed at the DGFI Headquarters.
This operational structure again highlights significant coordination among security forces and since the establishment of the NTMC, surveillance activities have transitioned to this independent agency, it said.
However, preliminary reports suggest that some surveillance capabilities still reside within individual forces.
The extent of these capabilities remains an active line of inquiry, particularly because there appears to be no judicial oversight on the surveillance process, the Commission report said.
“Despite the lack of judicial oversight, several victims reported signs of surveillance prior to their abductions,” it said.
For example, the report said that one victim revealed that his captors referenced a private phone conversation about his wife’s dental treatment, suggesting that mobile surveillance had been conducted beforehand.
Other victims described receiving suspicious phone calls shortly before their abductions, during which no one spoke at the other end of the line, it also said.
“These calls were presumably used to pinpoint the victim’s location,” it added.
In another instance, the report said that eyewitnesses recounted how the security forces entered a room, instructed the occupants to place their phones in a line, and, when a call came to one of the phones, detained the individual who claimed it.
“That person was never seen again,” it said.
Source: BSS
