Attenti

Oct 9, 2022

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later. Dismiss Normal text size Advertisement The company monitoring accused drug importer Mostafa Baluch rang him and his parents before informing police he had allegedly cut off his ankle bracelet, a court has heard, raising serious questions about the systems in place for electronic surveillance of accused criminals. A restaurateur from the quiet, affluent suburb of Bayview on Sydney’s northern beaches, Baluch shot to infamy when he was charged over allegedly removing the monitoring device administered by global security firm Attenti. He was wearing it as a condition of being granted bail on charges of importing 900 kilograms of cocaine from Ecuador. Mostafa Baluch is brought back to Sydney in November 2021 by police after allegedly cutting off his ankle bracelet and fleeing. Credit:Brook Mitchell “To cut a bracelet off your ankle which has been imposed by the court shows a very serious intent to flee,” Detective Superintendent Robert Critchlow said last year. Baluch’s escape, just four days after he was granted bail, came to a spectacular end when police captured him in the back of a truck travelling to Queensland after two weeks on the run. Attenti informed police “a few minutes” after the 33-year-old removed his monitoring device, the company’s business development manager Philipp Schluter told the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday. Asked by a lawyer if Baluch’s parents were contacted prior to police being called, Schluter agreed the company had attempted to call Baluch when it was notified of the tampering, but disputed that his parents were called before police. A self-contained Attenti one-piece tracking device as shown on the company’s website. Also raised in a Supreme Court bail application on Wednesday was the case of Xu Lin. Lin is accused of importing 159 kilograms of methamphetamine and 340 kilograms of the drug precursor ephedrine into Australia concealed in red bar stools and small packets of soup mix. Advertisement He allegedly removed his ankle bracelet, also monitored by Attenti, giving police the slip in May 2019. He remains at large. Baluch, Lin and the other alleged criminals on bail – currently numbering 45 across NSW – use the device under a “defendant-funded” option. Mostafa Baluch was on the run for more than two weeks then arrested at the Queensland border last year. Credit:NSW Police A 12-month monitoring period costs $25,000. When a breach is detected, an operator from Attenti’s 24/7 command centre will call the officer in charge or a back-up number, Schluter said. “We have changed our processes ... In 2017, the system would generate automatic alerts to the [phone] numbers that we were provided by police. If police didn’t monitor those numbers, alerts couldn’t be noticed. We changed our processes to ensure one of our operators makes a voice call to police,” he said. Loading If the two numbers supplied by police are not answered, “we will not be able to make contact with police in any significant way outside ringing the emergency number”, he said. Attenti does not keep track of people who have successfully removed the devices because “the number is very small”, he said. “Since 2008, the number is small enough to count on one hand.” Attenti was contacted for comment. The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here . Save