Governmental interception in Belgium

hone-tapping departments and the police are free to do their job, as in France or Switzerland, without asking for the support of the examining judge. Until mid-93, this country had no law concerning phone-tapping, except the straight ban on it.

Phone tapping was banned and punishable by a penalty

It was allowed two years ago, in 2 special cases :
- a legal examination which has to be seriously justified and submitted to limits (important cases, limitations in favour of professional secrecy...).
Phone tapping is authorized for a period of four days, renewable at the Chamber of the court.
- army, in time of war.

Indicators

Office of the protection of privacy. As far as non-vocal phone-tapping is concerned (UIT-T indicators), Belgacom has replaced the Zoller and malicious devices with the Elmi devices (list of the originating and terminating calls, duration, date) in 1993.

Places

There are many places for permanent vocal phone-tapping in big cities :
National police + Criminal Investigation Department under the theoretical control of the King's prosecutor.
Place of permanent vocal phone-tapping : police stations.

1994-1995

Criminal and profitable introduction of 125 tons of drugs in the Netherlands in the name of the battle against drugs. The Ministers of the Interior and the Minister of Justice resigned.

January 1996

The police searched Proximus and Belgacom Mobile in Brussels in order to find the list of the phone numbers and the suspects at the GSM.
Beforehand, it took from 2 to 3 hours, from 2 to 3 days at the maximum to get the lists; but in the present case, the justice has waited for 6 months.
Belgacom does not have suitable staff, and they do not think this service is profitable.

At the time of the case, a Flemish newspaper revealed that it is possible (in fact, it automatic: "automatic mobiletrace") to locate the zone of the phone call when it is given from a mobile phone, as well as other possibilities.

A policeman was arrested in Brussels

He was the leader of children trafficking.
The police captain who arrested this corrupt policeman was also arrested because he was responsible for cheques trafficking.

August 96

A second private operator arrived for the mobile phones :
Mobistar (600BTS + 50 BSC + + 3 MSC/VLR/HLR+ 1 OMC).

mid-1996

A new law was passed to authorize the police to conduct phone-tapping operations in BSC
(Base Station Controller) in order to save time in GSM phone-tapping.

mid-1996

A politician said : "last year, I realised how inactive the police administration had been by not dealing with a number of files".

Security of state

Bd. E. Jaqmain 150/2 1000 Brussels. Tel. 02/ 205 62 00.
The far right party tortured the ANC black people in the seventies.

September 1996

A member of the police trade union and his family were monitored.
His sister's employer (Minister Van Cauwenberghe) was tapped. The family is always tapped.
The police in Bruge, Etterbeck, Namur, Charleroi, Liege; Hasselt, Ostende and Brussels are indifferent to the prostitution networks (children and minors) or refuse to acknowledge their existence.
A customs officers was protected at the airport of Zaventem (Ludo L...) in favour of Belgian, Dutch and Brasilian drug traffickers (the Blankenberg Casino's advisor was actually a money launderer) (1 billon FB). It is the same situation in the Swiss customs in the TGV train, where no control is operated over the Italian passengers who load the drug before they get to the border.

End of 1996

Illegal phone-tapping reports from the ESI police force (special intervention squad) were quickly removed as they feared the inquiry commission would carry out a search.
Other illegal surveillance reports were destroyed.
The inquiry commission on the disappearance of children (private phone lines) was controlled by several police forces; they made several attempts to slow down the commission's progress.
Police documents were found in children traffickers' houses.

Beginning of 1997

Some parents whose children disappeared complained against the police captain VAN TIEGHEM in Bruges (he was in charge of the phone-tapping service).
Any police officer can order an interception even abroad.

July 1998

police officer Liège H., principal inspector let in freedom: rapes on minor.