Security Official: No Telecom Data Released after Cabinet's Latest Decision
A security official lamented on Sunday that security forces haven't yet received the so-called telecom data despite the cabinet's decision to allow Premier Najib Miqati to approve or reject requests for the data.
In remarks to An Nahar newspaper, the source said the procrastination in handing the data to the Internal Security Forces was hindering the work of the police and the army in several cases, including the recent abduction of a schoolboy.
Mohammed Nidal Awada, the 12-year-old son of a wealthy businessman, was the latest victim of the kidnapping-for-ransom phenomenon that has lately plagued Lebanon.
Awada was seized by armed men from outside his apartment building in Ramlet al-Baida area of Beirut last Wednesday while waiting for his school bus. The kidnappers later asked for ransom.
The official told An Nahar that security agencies were being handed small amounts of data only linked to the tracking of a few cellphones and most of the time they are coming late and complicating their efforts in finding suspects.
On Wednesday, the cabinet backed Miqati’s demand that he be allowed to approve or reject requests for data by the ISF, thus ending a long-running dispute with Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui, who had refused to approve a proposal to extend a request that was granted last year to allow security forces access to technical data for the entire country.
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