Yassir Afifi: Student Catches FBI Spying, FBI Demands GPS Tracker Back – A few days ago a young student found a tracking device that had been planted on his car. His friend posted a picture of it online and speculated that the two of them could be a part of an FBI investigation. After the picture was posted, the FBI showed up at their door, demanding the equipment back.
A total of six FBI agents arrived at the doorstep of Yassir Afifi, who is believed to have been under surveillance for three to six months. The FBI has not acknowledged that the case is even active, only saying that there is an “ongoing investigation,” and the agency will likely refrain from addressing it from here on out.
Afifi claims that he has been cooperative with the investigation, but believes that he has done nothing to warrant the increased attention from authorities. His father, an Islamic American activist, died a year ago in Egypt. The circumstances of his death are not clear at this time, and it is also not clear if his father’s involvement was the reasoning behind the monitoring of Afifi.
The device he found was a GPs receiver that is used for police-issue online. It is a Cobham Orion Guardian ST820 tracking system. It was also connected to a battery and radio transmitter. It was connected to the car magnetically, and the picture of the device made its way around various blogs on the internet, including the popular bookmarking site Reddit. The legality of the placement of the device is now under intense debate.
Category: US
