Ramagem says he carried out audits at FirstMile and accuses Abin server

Federal deputy Alexandre Ramagem (PL-RJ) published a video this Saturday (3) where he claims to have been responsible for all audits of the FirstMile cyber weapon (used to monitor the location of cell phones and tablets) and accuses an Abin server ( Brazilian Intelligence Agency) to erase records of monitoring carried out using spy technology. Ramagem was recently the target of a search warrant related to a Federal Police investigation into the irregular use of FirstMile.

Ramagem described in the video a series of actions he took between 2019 and 2021 to investigate how FirstMile was used. He was summoned to give a statement to the Federal Police this month and used the video to say he was not responsible for what the courts and the press have been calling “Abin Paralela”.

As director of Abin, Ramagem said he ordered an investigation by the Abin Internal Affairs Department and at least three administrative inquiries. In the video, he implied that he had detected possible procedural problems with the use of the cyber weapon (hired in 2018) since taking over the agency in 2019 and that his questions about this to employees were not fully satisfied. FirstMile’s contract was not renewed in 2021.

FirstMile is an Israeli cyber weapon that provides the approximate geographic location of cell phones in real time from the line number. This week the possibility that high-ranking authorities from the three powers have been monitored has been debated.

In the video, published on the social network A system that, according to him, is used by several institutions.

“Now, if this use is not well targeted and its use is not well discriminated, it is illicit. Now, let’s see at Abin who was making this use.”

Ramage also claims that he was the one who initiated, in 2019, an internal procedure to verify the legality of the acquisition and use of technology, and that he carried out a general mapping of the acquisition and use of Abin hardware in order to verify that everyone complies legal requirements. “I went through Abin with a fine-tooth comb,” he said.

In the almost 14-minute video, among papers that appear to consult dates, the deputy also states that a server, who was responsible for operating FirstMile, was dismissed by him and reinstated to the agency during the Lula administration, acting in a higher hierarchical position.

“In the Lula administration, who returned to Abin? The intelligence officer that I had dismissed. He returned in a higher position, Secretary of Planning and Management. The role I had requested, which carries out all the investigations”, he said Ramage.

“Based on news of Federal Police operations, he is suspected of deleting logs [registros] With the news, when they carried out the search warrant at his house, it was there that they found US$170,000, almost R$1 million. So, here you are checking who the parallel Abin is and who was carrying out the necessary inspections of the system.”

Ramagem did not reveal the name of the server, but an employee of the agency called Paulo Maurício Fortunado, who was in the planning area, was removed from the agency in October last year following a decision by the supreme court.