A secretive Scotland Yard unit is under the scanner of the police watchdog over allegations that it used Indian hackers to collect email details of several political protesters and journalists, according to The Guardian.
In a letter to the Green Party peer Jenny Jones, a whistle-blower claiming to have worked with the team that scrutinised the activities of political campaigners alleged that the Metropolitan police unit were in touch with the Indian police, who in turn used hackers to collect email passwords of several activists and journalists to gather information. The passwords have been sent to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) for investigation.
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"For a number of years the unit had been illegally accessing the email accounts of activists. This has largely been accomplished because of the contact that one of the officers had developed with counterparts in India who in turn were using hackers to obtain email passwords," reads the letter (as reported on The Guardian).
The letter has revealed the names of several political campaigners and journalists, including four from Greenpeace and two from The Guardian, whose email account details have been compromised. Jones has said that "There is more than enough to justify a full-scale criminal investigation into the activities of these police officers and referral to a public inquiry" and urged the Independent Police Complaints Commission to gather evidence on the allegation and find out more about the individuals whose privacy were compromised.
The IPCC has found out in its months of investigation over claims of the intelligence unit shredding documents related to undercover policing of political groups that the documents could have been destroyed as alleged.
The whistle-blower claimed in the letter that the shredding of documents happened for some time and it was to cover up the police officers involved in illegal activities of snooping protest groups. It also revealed 10 individuals and the passwords used to access their email accounts. Jones' lawyer contacted six of the victims to check if the passwords matched, and five of them did while the sixth one too was close.
The IPCC has begun an investigation on the matter and have met Jones twice with her lawyer.
"After requesting and receiving a referral by the Metropolitan police service, we have begun an independent investigation related to anonymous allegations concerning the accessing of personal data. We are still assessing the scope of the investigation and so we are not able to comment further," and IPCC spokesperson told the paper.
The secretive Scotland Yard unit had in the past justified monitoring of thousands of activists citing the need to track those who resort to criminal activities, but it has received a huge backlash this time around after it was revealed that some of the campaigners, who were snooped upon, are law-abiding citizens.
(Source: The Guardian)
