On Friday, November 25, an audio and video surveillance installation was exposed outside an apartment somewhere in Bavaria. The listening device had been discovered on a bicycle parked there and installed on it with the help of a tool bag under the saddle (see symbol picture). The interception device itself consisted of a main unit measuring approx. 12 x 12 x 1.5 cm (see technical details), to which a camera and a microphone were connected, as well as an approx. 25 x 5 x 4 cm Li-ion battery (16 Ah). The whole installation was hidden in the saddlebag in such a way that it could not be seen from the outside. Only the camera (max. approx. 1 x 1 x 1 cm with a lens diameter of max. 0.5 cm) was led to the outside via a tiny hole and was pointed at the entrance to the corresponding apartment. With the naked eye, however, this was so nevertheless impossible to identify.
A few minutes after removal of the bugging device, the bicycle was picked up by the suspected spies. Recordings made by the listening device were presumably transmitted via the mobile network with the help of a SIM card.
The design and installation of the bugging device on the bicycle make it at least conceivable that this is a spontaneously deployable installation that could be used in this form at short notice and without much lead time. In fact, numerous suppliers of surveillance technology have been marketing corresponding installations for use in the helmet storage boxes of scooters for many years. Continue reading “Bavaria, Germany: Camera and microphone found in front of apartment”