3 Years of ‘Sniffing’ Case Standstill: National Crime Agency to Investigate

The Landing Station at Baie-de-Jacotet, the site of a controversial intervention involving the SAFE submarine cable that connects Mauritius to the global Internet, now finds itself at the centre of renewed scrutiny. Three years have elapsed since Sherry Singh, the former Chief Executive Officer of Mauritius Telecom, levelled serious allegations regarding potential ‘sniffing’ of Internet traffic via the SAFE cable, yet no arrests have been made to date.

In a significant development, Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam has pledged to reinvigorate the investigation under the auspices of the forthcoming National Crime Agency, a decision announced on Tuesday, 15 April 2025.

“It will enlist foreign investigators to shed light on this high-stakes matter,” he declared in the National Assembly, responding to a query from MP Raviraj Beechook, the second member for Flacq/Bon-Accueil.

This announcement comes three years after the explosive revelations made by Singh regarding possible illegal surveillance of Internet traffic in Mauritius.

A police investigation was initiated, yet, lamented Ramgoolam, “as of 10 April 2025, no individuals have been arrested in connection with these matters.”

He did, however, note that 23 individuals had been interrogated between 11 July 2022 and 3 February 2025, with their statements recorded as part of the inquiry conducted by the Central Criminal Investigation Department.

To recall, the controversy erupted on 1 July 2022, when Singh, during a live broadcast on Radio Plus in the programme “Au Cœur de l’Info,” alleged that a foreign team had been granted permission to intervene on the SAFE cable.

This cable, which connects the island to the global Internet, is located at the Baie-de-Jacotet Landing Station.

According to Singh, these manipulations posed a potential threat to national security and violated the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.

The Prime Minister emphasised that these “serious allegations” have inflicted “considerable damage to the image of Mauritius Telecom,” the owner of the station, as well as to Mauritius’s reputation on both local and international stages.

He also confirmed that a complaint for “spreading false news” had been lodged on 11 July 2022 against Singh by then-Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, who has consistently denied authorising such interventions by a foreign entity.

In total, five complaints related to this affair have been recorded, all concerning similar facts and circumstances, according to Ramgoolam.

Reflecting on the previous inaction, he remarked, “Surprisingly, no one in the past has had the will to get to the bottom of this matter.”

As uncertainty lingers over the actual existence of illegal surveillance devices on sensitive telecommunications infrastructure, the government is resolute in its commitment to re-launch the investigation on new grounds.

Source: Defi Media