Prison gets equipment from UNODC to extract data on mobile telephones |20 December 2019

Staff examine the Touch2 Cellebrite (Photo source: Seychelles Prison Service)

The Seychelles Prison Service has welcomed a donation from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) of equipment that will enable it to ‘read’ and extract potentially valuable information from mobile telephones seized from inmates or others, violating the rules of the prisons.

The equipment, a UFED Touch2 Logical from Cellebrite, costing in excess of R400,000, will enable the prison service’s security and intelligence unit to quickly and effectively extract data from cellphones, smartphones, PDA’s, iPods, which are recovered from prison facilities.

The prison service, while having this new enhanced ability, will continue to work closely with its partners at the Seychelles Police and the Anti-Narcotics Bureau (ANB) so as to reduce or deter continued acts of criminality in prison when they occur.

Soon, a member of the department of Prisons will be attending a specialised training course on the operations of this equipment, to meet national legal requirements.

The prison service extends its thanks to UNODC for its continued support and partnership. The addition of this equipment will complement overall security enhancements, which are continuing at the Montagne Posée prison facility. The prison administration, as an aim, will be seeking additional charges on inmates caught in possession of mobile telephones and using them to commit further offences.

Source: Seychelles Prison Service