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9 Dec, 2013

Australian spies ‘used East Timor aid program as cover’ – Sydney Morning Herald

East Timor’s government believes it has identified the members of a team of four Australian spies who allegedly bugged its government offices, describing it as “very disturbing” that they apparently used the cover of an aid program.

The revelations came as intelligence and development experts expressed their deep misgivings that aid was apparently used as the pretext for installing and then removing the eavesdropping equipment, saying it jeopardised important aid projects and potentially put Australian aid workers at risk around the world.

“We think we have identified the team of people who came in to do the bugging. We have their names,” said Alfredo Pires, East Timor’s Natural Resources Minister. “They are males, along with a possible lady spy.”

Read the rest: East Timor claims it knows which Australian spies bugged its offices.