Earlier this month three people were arrested for being in possession of a highly sophisticated (and hugely illegal) spying device in Pretoria.

Called a ‘Grabber’, the device is used for intercepting mobile phone communications from a few kilometres away. The device was reportedly brought into the country in pieces from Israel, assembled here, and is worth as much as R25 million.

While the arrests where made and the device recovered, police are still facing another problem: there’s another, as-yet-unrecovered device.

Police confirmed late on Thursday that one of the devices was recovered, but it is now feared that the second one could be in the hands of private individuals – which apparently poses a huge risk for national security.

Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said that no one should be able to possess such a unit.

“These grabbers are regulated by law. No one in this country can have them without the permission of the president. They are used for the intercepting of information for intelligence purposes,” he told News24.

As far as the investigation into locating the second unit goes, he said that the matter is being kept under wraps for now.

“With this case there is not much I can reveal because it is sensitive.”

Police spokesperson Solomon Makgale told EWN that if anybody tries to intercept mobile phone signals, service providers should be able to detect it.

“Depending how the person uses it, particularly if they use it to frequently jam the network, the network providers will be able to pick that up.”

But that shouldn’t mean your Average Joe is off the hook. Makgale detailed what it actually can do – and it’s rather scary.

“They are able to intercept phone calls, text messages, MMS’s and WhatsApp messages. They can locate your cellphone and they can jam the network. In essence, somebody can remotely control your cellphone.”

Driving the point home of how dangerous the device is, Mulaudzi said that it poses a serious security threat.

“Only certain people are authorised to use this machine. This is extremely dangerous. No ordinary citizen is supposed to be in possession of this device. That is why the purchase of this device is highly regulated.”

[Source – News24, EWN, Image – CC by 2.0/Kit]