“Israeli” Spyware, Surveillance Tools Sold to Bangladesh

By Staff, Agencies

Haaretz reported on Monday that companies run by “Israeli” businessmen have sold spyware and surveillance tools to Bangladesh, despite a lack of diplomatic relations between the apartheid “Israeli” entity and Bangladesh.

“Israeli” companies and a company run by a former “Israeli” intelligence commander but based in Europe sold the tools to Bangladeshi authorities in recent years.

According to Haaretz, export records show that a SpearHead surveillance system made by the Passitora company was delivered to the South Asian country in June 2022. Passitora is owned by Tal Dillian, a former chief commander in the technological unit of the “Israeli” army’s Intelligence Directorate.

Three people who were senior officers in the Intelligence Directorate told The New York Times, that Dilian was forced to retire from the army in 2003 after an internal investigation raised suspicions that he had been involved in funds mismanagement.

In 2019, Cyprus police began investigating Dilian after he spoke to Forbes about the SpearHead system, a surveillance van he was testing in the island nation as part of a company he owned called WiSpear. The spy van, a converted GMC ambulance equipped with millions of dollars of surveillance equipment, could access any phone within a 1-kilometer radius and read their WhatsApp messages, Facebook chats, texts, contacts and more.

Dilian told Forbes that the companies that provide surveillance tech can't be held responsible for abuses. "We are not the policemen of the world, and we are not the judges of the world. We work with the good guys. And sometimes the good guys don’t behave."

In June 2021, the Bangladeshi cabinet decided to buy a surveillance vehicle from a company called Toru Group Limited. Haaretz found that the company is registered in the British Virgin Islands, but its website makes no reference to the sort of vehicle Bangladeshi authorities had purchased. The company's CEO is an “Israeli” citizen named Assaf Elias.

A number of sources informed Haaretz that the surveillance vehicle purchased by Bangladesh was actually provided by Dilian's company, with Elias serving as a middleman. The CEO of the Toru Group reportedly served as a middleman for other deals with Dilian as well.

The report additionally found that an “Israeli” company called Prelysis sold a surveillance system that intercepts Wi-Fi communications to Bangladesh's internal intelligence agency in 2019. The system was shipped through Cyprus, with Cypriot export records showing the deal costing about $3 million.