Security experts deny British agency behind fixing bug in Ecuador Embassy hosting Assange

Security experts have reportedly denied allegations about British police or security services planting the surveillance bug found by Foreign minister Ricardo Patino at Ecuador's London Embassy where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been holed up for a year.

According to the Guardian, Patino had revealed that a surveillance device was found by him at the embassy and claimed it to be the work of Worcester surveillance and security firm, The Surveillance Group Limited.

However, the firm's CEO Timothy Youngs has called the allegations 'completely untrue' adding that the firm does not and has never been engaged in any activities of this nature.

A security expert who worked for the UK law enforcement agencies said that the plug sockets are easily detectable and one can buy it off the shelf adding that it is unlikely that a state agency would do it.

Another analyst Dave Allam, who owns the Spy Shop, said that the images revealed by Patino about the device show the bug to be of 'bog-standard' and the police or state agency uses lot more sophisticated equipments than the one found at the embassy.

However, he agreed with Patino's claims that the device could be used with a mobile phone sim card or a SD memory card which has a text facility that could send alerts when people were speaking in the room so that users could call to listen in.

Patino has claimed that the surveillance bug was installed inside the office of the Ecuadorean ambassador to the United Kingdom, Ana Alban during his visit to the embassy to meet with British Foreign Secretary William Hague to discuss Assange on June 16.

He further said that the authorities have a reason to believe that the bugging was carried out by The Surveillance Group Limited which is one of the largest private investigation and covert surveillance companies in the UK.

The Surveillance Group Limited called the allegations untrue and declined to comment further, the report added.