TheStar.com – News – U.S. retracts spy coins claim
It seems there’s no danger of your spare change spying on you after all.
A U.S. government defence agency has suddenly retracted its claim that Canadian coins containing tiny transmitters were planted on at least three American contractors who visited Canada.
It’s the latest twist in an intriguing cash caper.
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In a statement posted late Friday on its website, the Defense Security Service said the coin claims were based on a report provided to the agency.
“The allegations, however, were found later to be unsubstantiated following an investigation into the matter,” the statement said, adding that “the 2006 annual report should not have contained this information.”
The service’s acting director has ordered an internal review of the circumstances leading up to publication of the information “to prevent incidents like this” from recurring.
A spokeswoman for the agency was unavailable Saturday.
As recently as Wednesday, the Defense Security Service insisted the risk was genuine.
“What’s in the report is true,” agency spokeswoman Martha Deutscher told The Associated Press. “This is indeed a sanitized version, which leaves a lot of questions.”
Earlier item, Is that a Loonie in Your Pocket or is Someone Else Glad to See Me?.
