Is this the building that houses the cell phone equipment bought by Vietnam? This photo is reportedly the building in Saigon (left) where the Vietnamese security official’s house mobile cell phone monitoring equipment bought from US and UK companies. The photograph came from sources inside Vietnam on condition of anonymity. The source reports direct knowledge of Vietnamese government policy. For more on the actual spy equipment see http://www.rsf.org/UK-and-US-companies-sold-mobile.html  

In 2006 our organization discovered that the Vietnamese communist government had purchased almost half a million dollars worth of mobile cell phone monitoring equipment from a US and UK company. The British Company named Silver Bullet and the US Company Verint Systems (a subsidiary of Comverse Technology), sold this equipment used for intercepting mobile phone calls to the Vietnamese military and security forces. This spy equipment is believed responsible for the escalation of phone calls from Vietnam being intercepted and cut off. We believe this equipment is currently being used to spy on dissidents and human rights activists who try calling to/from the Central Highlands of Vietnam to the United States. Upon intercepting calls discussing human rights abuses the authorities cut the phone calls and try arresting the caller in Vietnam. Reporters without Borders also reported on this situation, see: http://www.rsf.org/UK-and-US-companies-sold-mobile.html  

Vietnam uses this repressive tactic to prevent human rights abuses and religious persecution from reaching the international community. Furthermore they arrest, torture and even kill Degar Montagnard people who get caught using cell phones as described by this case reported by the US State Department. These spy systems are called Silver Bullet systems and were purchased in 2006. These systems included two P-GSM stations (portable mobile phone listening devices) sold for $250,000 each.

The US State Department described the 30 July 2006 death in police custody of Degar Christian named “Y-Ngo Adrong” as “a credible report of an extrajudicial killing by security forces”.  See, Vietnam Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78796.htm 

The report stated that:  “in mid July Y Ngo Adrong, an ethnic Jarai, was arrested in Ea Hleo District in Dak Lak Province, reportedly for using a cellular telephone to communicate with members of the ethnic minority community abroad. Subsequently, police announced that Adrong hanged himself in his prison cell, although bruises on his torso strongly suggested that he died from a beating. Police reportedly refused to allow unfettered access to the body and paid approximately $1,000 (15 million VND) in compensation to the family. 

On March 11, 2010 another Montagnard Christian named K’pa Lot (left) died from torture in a Vietnamese prison. He was arrested May 20th, 2007 and imprisoned in Phu Yen province for publicly supporting religious freedom. His last words described how he endured torture sessions and kept in isolation from other prisoners and international monitors in prison. Near death K’Pa Lot whispered to his wife in his native language and told her how he was regularly tortured inside prison. For full story see: http://montagnard-foundation.org/wp/?p=186