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Phone thief caught red-handed
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| Dennis Pogson 2005-10-19, 5:48 pm |
| Eddy [UK] wrote:
> Wow, how accurate is that!
>
> "activated the phone's GPS - to locate it in the officer's pocket"
>
> http://www.ananova.com/news/story/s...u=news.quirkies
In my ignorance, how did the laptop connect with the 'phone?
DNP
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| David Lee 2005-10-19, 5:48 pm |
| Eddy [UK]" wrote...
> Wow, how accurate is that!
>
> "activated the phone's GPS - to locate it in the officer's pocket"
More to the point - what was the US Ambassador doing passing through
customs? Sounds decidedly mythological to me!
David
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| David Lee 2005-10-19, 5:48 pm |
| Dennis Pogson wrote...
> In my ignorance, how did the laptop connect with the 'phone?
I've come across this before - AFAIK it's a facility whereby you can track
the position of a mobile phone via a website. In order to be granted access
the owner of the phone has to give specific permission to the person doing
the tracking - I believe via an interchange of text messages. The system I
saw on offer (on a CD in a discount store believe it or not!) could work
with any phone using standard triangulation between towers but I can imagine
that it will have since been upgraded to make use of GPS enabled handsets.
Also I would expect that the system just returned the position of the
culprit whilst the phone was in his pocket rather than pinpointing the
position of the phone IN his pocket, as claimed by the article!
David
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| On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 10:09:54 +0100, "David Lee"
< davidlee_malvern@don
t.use.this.bit.hotmail.com> dropped the following
oil-slick:
>Eddy [UK]" wrote...
>
>More to the point - what was the US Ambassador doing passing through
>customs? Sounds decidedly mythological to me!
>
I bet he puts his personal luggage in the diplomatice bag in future.
Why wasn't he carrying the phone, anyway? Or do ambassadoes employ
people to do that for them?
--
gomez
Honda TransAlp,KTM 640LC Enduro (For Sale)
(not is hot to reply)
"The best tool for the job is the hammer thats nearest to hand"
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"Eddy [UK]" < one_computers@compus
erve.com> wrote in message
news:1129712012.354351.307990@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Wow, how accurate is that!
>
> "activated the phone's GPS - to locate it in the officer's pocket"
>
> http://www.ananova.com/news/story/s...u=news.quirkies
So it picked up a gps signal ... INSIDE an airport.... INSIDE someones
pocket? When usually they cant even see through a normal roof or a heated
windscreen.
I see.....
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| David Lee 2005-10-20, 11:48 pm |
| James wrote ...
>
> "Eddy [UK]" < one_computers@compus
erve.com> wrote in message
> news:1129712012.354351.307990@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
>
> So it picked up a gps signal ... INSIDE an airport.... INSIDE someones
> pocket? When usually they cant even see through a normal roof or a heated
> windscreen.
>
> I see.....
No you don't! This is how those bloody urban myths get started - the report
simply said that the system found the "exact" position whilst the 'phone was
in the customs officer's pocket. There was no mention at all of where he
was at the time. Since he was arrested at the location reported by the
'phone I would suspect that he was most probably at home and that the 'phone
had reported its position when it last had a satellite lock, which would
probably be just outside his front door - in which case "exact position"
would actually be "exact house", which is a much more reasonable achievement
and perfectly adequate grounds for the police to carry out the search that
found the incriminating evidence.
David
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| David Lee 2005-10-20, 11:48 pm |
| David Lee wrote ...
> James wrote ...
>
> No you don't! This is how those bloody urban myths get started - the
> report simply said that the system found the "exact" position whilst the
> 'phone was in the customs officer's pocket. There was no mention at all
> of where he was at the time. Since he was arrested at the location
> reported by the 'phone I would suspect that he was most probably at home
> and that the 'phone had reported its position when it last had a satellite
> lock, which would probably be just outside his front door - in which case
> "exact position" would actually be "exact house", which is a much more
> reasonable achievement and perfectly adequate grounds for the police to
> carry out the search that found the incriminating evidence.
>
> David
....and I was right - the phone was tracked to the home of one of the
culprits. The following (including names of the culprits, make of phone and
reporter who filed the story) are the facts as reported in a Bulgarian
newspaper - the international edition of the Standart (Tue 18th Oct):
Border Policemen Steal US Ambassador's phone; Face 10 Years in Prison
The two border policemen from Vrana Airport who stole the mobile phone of
the US Ambassador to Bulgaria HE John Beyrle will stay in custody. The
severest sanction - arrest was imposed on them by Varna Military Court
Monday afternoon. The charges against the two sergeants Alexander Kostov and
Preslav Georgiev are for stealing the diplomat's Samsung phone at the
airport's Internal Flights - Departure where they worked on the documents
for the flight to Bucharest on October 14. For these charges the two
policemen could face up to 10 years in prison.
During the investigation of the US ambassador's phone theft it emerged the
mobile costs 280 levs (roughly 140 euro).
Since the two policemen did not report on finding the mobile after their
duty, it evidences they did not intend to give it back, according to the
prosecutor. The GSM was tracked by means of GPS to the home of Preslav
Georgiev. The policemen were on duty at the customs offices at the airport
border checkpoint in Varna (Bulgaria's northern Black Sea port) on Friday
morning when the ambassador flew for Sofia. At the luggage scanning Beyrle
forgot his mobile in the X-ray machine. The moment he discovered the loss,
he started searching for it.
The ambassador's phone had been kitted out with a global positioning system
that led the police to Georgiev's pocket. According to airport authorities
the two sergeants were novices in Border Police. Alexander Kostov (24) has
worked seven months at Varna Airport border checkpoint and Preslav Georgiev
(26) - a year and a half. The two policemen who committed the theft at Varna
airport will be dismissed, according the pres office of the Ministry of
Interior. Meanwhile some of the colleagues of the arrested policemen said
the case was rather unpleasant and it would affect the whole team at Varna
Airport border checkpoint.
"They seemed intelligent guys. I do not know how they arrived at the idea of
taking this phone. Perhaps they believed no one would find out where the
phone disappeared, not considering the fact the owner is a US diplomat and
not an ordinary American. They hardly imagined the phone had a GPS that
would lead to them," said a colleague of theirs who claimed anonymity.
Dobromir Radushev
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