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Britain spies on vast quantities of communications relayed through underwater fibre-optic cables from a secret listening base on Cyprus codenamed “Sounder”, it has emerged
A Turkish checkpoint stands within shouting distance of the Dhekelia Sovereign Base home to British Forces in the south east of Cyrpus Photo: ALAMY
British spies from GCHQ are able to tap into 14 undersea cables which pass through Cyprus from the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, accessing tens of millions of emails, telephone calls, instant messages and other web-based traffic, it was claimed.
The listening station, which consists of satellite dishes, antennas and operational buildings and can be seen on Google Earth satellite images, is located at Ayios Nikolaos on the British sovereign military base at Dhekelia, towards the east of the island.
The revelations came from an investigation into British espionage on the island by Ta Nea, a Greek newspaper, Alpha TV, a Greek television station, L’Espresso, an Italian news weekly and a German daily, Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Much of the information was gleaned from documents leaked by the American whistleblower and former NSA employee Edward Snowden.
Britain is able to use the base on Cyprus, which has been known about for decades, to spy on foreign governments and individuals in the Mediterreanean and the Middle East, including trade organisations, foreign embassies and UN agencies.
“Undersea cable maps show Cyprus at the hub of numerous fibre-optic undersea cables, making it a natural site to spy on Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern communications,” L’Espresso said in a report published on Tuesday.
“A number of cables connect Cyprus to Israel and Syria, obvious targets for Anglo-American spying.
“Other cables run from Cyprus to Lebanon, Cyprus to Egypt and Turkey, to Greece and Italy, and so on.
“In total over a dozen strategic cables are accessible in Cyprus and more are planned.”
The British are able to monitor the submarine fibre-optic cables because of an agreement drawn up with Cyprus at the time that the island gained independence in 1960.
Specialist engineers use “passive optical splitters” to tap into the cables which come ashore on Cyprus, diverting the information to the Ayios Nikolaos station.
American spies are also based at the British base, according to a document leaked by Snowden that was seen by Süddeutsche Zeitung.
“The document says the American intelligence staff are required to dress as tourists because the UK has promised the Cyprus government that only British staff will work there,” the Italian weekly said.
When asked about the claims, the press office for GCHQ in Cheltenham, gave its standard response: “It is long standing policy that we do not comment on intelligence matters.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ase-in-Cyprus-used-to-spy-on-Middle-East.html
A Turkish checkpoint stands within shouting distance of the Dhekelia Sovereign Base home to British Forces in the south east of Cyrpus Photo: ALAMY
British spies from GCHQ are able to tap into 14 undersea cables which pass through Cyprus from the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, accessing tens of millions of emails, telephone calls, instant messages and other web-based traffic, it was claimed.
The listening station, which consists of satellite dishes, antennas and operational buildings and can be seen on Google Earth satellite images, is located at Ayios Nikolaos on the British sovereign military base at Dhekelia, towards the east of the island.
The revelations came from an investigation into British espionage on the island by Ta Nea, a Greek newspaper, Alpha TV, a Greek television station, L’Espresso, an Italian news weekly and a German daily, Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Much of the information was gleaned from documents leaked by the American whistleblower and former NSA employee Edward Snowden.
Britain is able to use the base on Cyprus, which has been known about for decades, to spy on foreign governments and individuals in the Mediterreanean and the Middle East, including trade organisations, foreign embassies and UN agencies.
“Undersea cable maps show Cyprus at the hub of numerous fibre-optic undersea cables, making it a natural site to spy on Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern communications,” L’Espresso said in a report published on Tuesday.
“A number of cables connect Cyprus to Israel and Syria, obvious targets for Anglo-American spying.
“Other cables run from Cyprus to Lebanon, Cyprus to Egypt and Turkey, to Greece and Italy, and so on.
“In total over a dozen strategic cables are accessible in Cyprus and more are planned.”
The British are able to monitor the submarine fibre-optic cables because of an agreement drawn up with Cyprus at the time that the island gained independence in 1960.
Specialist engineers use “passive optical splitters” to tap into the cables which come ashore on Cyprus, diverting the information to the Ayios Nikolaos station.
American spies are also based at the British base, according to a document leaked by Snowden that was seen by Süddeutsche Zeitung.
“The document says the American intelligence staff are required to dress as tourists because the UK has promised the Cyprus government that only British staff will work there,” the Italian weekly said.
When asked about the claims, the press office for GCHQ in Cheltenham, gave its standard response: “It is long standing policy that we do not comment on intelligence matters.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ase-in-Cyprus-used-to-spy-on-Middle-East.html
