US may be using 'cellphone-sniffing' planes to spot suspects worldwide

The United States may be using "cellphone-sniffing planes" to spot suspects across the world, a report said.

The U.S. Marshal's secret program to use a plane, equipped to function like a cellphone tower, to locate specific fugitive was revealed in November. While flying over an urbane area, the plane can spot the location of a single number amid a million or more phones with pinpoint accuracy, reported The Verge.

The report said that the technology is believed to have originated with the CIA, which guided the initial deployment of the planes by the Marshal Service. It is still used to locate intelligence targets overseas.

The technology, which constitutes a powerful weapon in the U.S. intelligence efforts abroad, also reveals a troubling trend of foreign intelligence tools used for domestic law enforcement purposes.