Ecuador claims bug found in its London embassy

7/3/2013

QUITO, Ecuador  — Ecuador’s foreign minister says a hidden microphone found inside its London embassy, where Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is staying, may have been operated by a private British surveillance company.

Ricardo Patino said the microphone was found inside an electricity outlet in the office of Ambassador Ana Alban in mid-June when Ecuadorean technicians reviewed the embassy’s wiring. Assange lives and works in a different room.

The purpose of the bug was to listen to the ambassador’s conversations, Patino told a news conference in Quito, Ecuador, holding up a picture of the purported microphone.

“We have reason to believe that the bugging was carried out by The Surveillance Group Limited, one of the largest private investigation and covert surveillance companies in the United Kingdom,” he said.