Mexico increases its wiretapping capabilities

The federal Attorney General’s Office (PGR) is to spend 322 million pesos on spying equipment, despite having been accused of overpaying for such products in the past.

The PGR is still carrying out an internal investigation into why it paid 202 million pesos – reportedly well over the going rate – for software used to track Blackberry cell phones. During the investigation, the PGR submitted accounts to the Ministry of Finance which showed that it now plans to purchase more electronic surveillance equipment.

With the new technology, the PGR will be able to tap into the private phone conversations of suspected criminals across Mexico. This equipment will be used by the federal police and the PGR’s organized crime division SEIDO.

The authorities require a judge’s authorization to carry out wiretapping operations, an increasingly common practice in Mexico. In 2007, judges provided SEIDO with 20 licenses to listen in on 379 phone lines, but by 2012 this had risen to 175 authorizations to wiretap 1,279 lines.