DEA uses Apple AirTag as a surveillance device

According to tech industry insiders familiar with the case, the use of Apple’s location-tracking device appears to be the first time a federal law enforcement agency has used an AirTag as a surveillance tool.

The investigation began in May 2022 when US Border Patrol agents intercepted a package coming from Shanghai, China, which they believed was suspicious. One package contained a pill press — a tool used to compress powders into oral tablets — while the other was a supply of pill dyes. Believing the package might have been sent to illegal drug manufacturers, border officials notified the DEA of their discovery, according to a search warrant obtained by Forbes.

After DEA investigators inspected the tagged shipments, they hid an Apple AirTag in the pill press and then allowed the packages on to their intended destination. DEA agents then used the location data sent by the Bluetooth-enabled device to track the tablet press’s movements to its intended address and after delivery.

The DEA did not disclose why it chose to use an Apple AirTag over other surveillance technology available to the agency, which has vast federal funds to conduct national and international investigations into illegal narcotics. However, in court documents, a federal agent noted that the “accurate location information for the [pill press] will enable investigators to obtain evidence of where such individuals store drugs and/or drug proceeds, where they obtain controlled substances, and where else they distribute them,” the search warrant obtained by Forbes said.

Brady Wilkins, a recently retired Arizona Attorney General’s Office detective, told Forbes that the DEA may have tested the AirTag because of previous failures with other types of tracking technologies currently available to law enforcement, including GPS units, which “sometimes worked.” , sometimes not.”

An AirTag “is easier to hide and is less likely to be found by suspects,” Wilkins told Forbes. “Suspects are getting better at countersurveillance techniques,” he added, noting that subjects have spotted GPS trackers larger than Apple AirTags used in previous investigations. AirTags also appear to have more reliable connectivity than other tracking devices.

Apple introduced the AirTag in April 2021 and marketed the quarter-sized location tracker as a way for consumers to locate lost bags, devices, or other personal belongings. The affordable technology, which can be purchased online for less than $30, has led many consumers to share success stories about found items or the ability to track property including luggage while traveling to their destinations. But the devices have also been used for other, sometimes criminal, purposes, including by stalkers who secretly planted an AirTag containing their victim’s personal belongings, allowing the target’s movements to be remotely tracked.

After news of unintended uses of AirTags made headlines, Apple added measures to prevent their clandestine use. The tech giant has released an update for iPhones that will allow them to notify the user if an unknown AirTag is detected on their person. AirTags also sound an alarm if they are not near their owner for a long time.

The measures Apple has taken to make AirTags more difficult to use stealthily make them an unlikely surveillance tool for law enforcement agencies eager to remain undetected while conducting investigations. But Jerome Greco, a senior attorney at the Legal Aid Society, said that if a surveillance or investigative tactic is technically feasible, “we should always assume that the police will take advantage of it”.

“AirTags and competing products remain a concern due to their ease of misuse and the potentially significant consequences of that misuse,” Greco told Forbes. “The DEA investigation is another extension of AirTags, which are used for purposes presumably not intended by Apple.”

It’s not clear how valuable the AirTag was to the DEA’s investigation. The search warrant allowed the agency to track the package with the pill press for 45 days throughout the District of Massachusetts, the package’s destination, and through every other state in the U.S. court records show the package’s recipient was not charged was charged with every crime in federal court. The Justice Department confirmed to Forbes that the suspect has been charged in state court.

The DEA and Apple did not respond to requests for more information about the investigation.