"Bangladesh bought mass spying equipment from Israeli company", 2 February 2021

Bangladesh has bought Israeli-made surveillance equipment that can be used to monitor the mobile phones of hundreds of people simultaneously, an Al Jazeera investigation has found.

Documents and statements obtained by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit show that the Bangladesh army purchased the Israeli equipment in 2018 using a Bangkok-based middleman and Bangladeshi military intelligence officers were trained in Hungary by Israeli intelligence experts...

...The spyware contract involved paperwork that tried to disguise the true nature of the deal and involved front companies. It was, in effect, a deal between the Bangladesh military intelligence agency, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), and PicSix, an Israel-based firm run by former Israeli intelligence agents. A Bangkok-based Irish national, James Moloney, acted as a middleman.

The mobile phone monitoring systems Bangladesh bought, so-called IMSI-catchers, are often used by authorities to keep track of attendees during protests and demonstrations...

Earlier, Moloney had said that Sovereign Systems was a front for PicSix’s business in Asia, as many countries would not openly do business with an Israeli company...