Security fears over sale of £75 ‘mini’ phone that’s perfect for criminals
2in handsets can be smuggled into prisons without detection
THEY are the latest craze to hit the high street – mobile phones so small they fit in the palm of your hand.
But security sources fear the new generation of micro mobiles could let extremists recruit and plan terror from behind bars.
The Mail on Sunday has established that their astonishingly small size means growing numbers of the phones are already smuggled into jail and used by criminals and extremists.
The devices can be easily be concealed inside or around a human body and, with minimal metal content, the phones can apparently evade scanners.
They are openly advertised online as ‘Boss approved’, suggesting they will not activate the Boss (body orifice security scanner) chairs used for visitors and inmates in jails.
The phones have been sold online for two years, but concerns have heightened because for the first time they are now available in high street stores.
Last month prison officers uncovered a batch of nine phones concealed in a games console illegally brought into a London prison. Staff only found them because th they were hidden with a drugs package discovered by sniffer dogs.
A spokesman for the Prison Governors Association said: ‘We are aware of the increase of mobile phone trafficking and disappointed that very small phones are being openly advertised as being able to “beat the Boss”. Something should be done to tackle this.’ The spokesman added: ‘The availability of these trafficked mobile phones means we can’t monitor conversations. It also allows prisoners to continue to carry out crime from behind bars.
‘The technology is available to defeat them and we would urge the Government to invest in it to stop these phones being used.’ The Mail on Sunday purchased a Zanco ‘Fly’ for £75 from a West London corner shop. The phone is sold by Zini Mobiles Ltd, a UK-based company registered online to Bradford-based Mr Shazad Bashir Talib.
Online reviews for this and other micro mobiles speak volumes. ‘The perfect prison phone 21 Aug. 2013,’ wrote one.
‘Very handy phone. The handset works well in my cell,’ wrote another while a third said: ‘5 out of 5 stars,’ adding it was easy to hide internally.
This and other brands offer an additional headache for anti-terror chiefs as they contain voice changing software which can potentially defeat recognition systems designed to pick up terrorists.
When used by our reporter, the phone proved capable of converting a male voice into an entirely convincing female voice.
Micro mobiles can be bought for just £25 each but inside prison are said to be worth £250.
There is now serious concern that these phones will be used by dangerous terrorist preachers such as Anjem Choudary, who was jailed last week for five-and-a-half years for encouraging support for the Islamic State. The two killers of soldier Lee Rigby were influenced by Choudary after they converted to Islam.
Nearly 15,000 mobile phones and SIM cards were recovered in jails last year. Some of them were used for drug-dealing and smuggling guns into the UK.
Last night Chris Phillips, who headed the police’s National Counter Terrorism Security Office, called for prisons to use sophisticated signal blocking devices to stop inmates communicating on mobiles.
He said: ‘The prisoners have already got big mobile phones so these smaller ones will be easy to get past security.’
Last night the Ministry of Justice promised to act against the illicit phone menace. A Prison Service spokeswoman said: ‘We are determined to do all we can to prevent prisoners having access to mobile phones and we are stepping up measures to find and block them.’