PSNI chief constable admits use of Israeli spyware by his force

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) chief constable Jon Boutcher has admitted that his officers make use of phone hacking software made by Israeli company Cellebrite. Amnesty International have previously reported how Serbian authorities have used the technology to undermine journalists and broader civil society within Serbia.

Boutcher made the confession during the PSNI’s monthly public policing board meeting. It was in response to Sinn Féin MLA and police spokesperson Gerry Kelly asking about the potential use of Cellebrite and other spyware made by the Zionist entity, such as NoviSpy and Cosain.

The PSNI chief attempted to downplay the use of the privacy-destroying tech, saying it was used as “software under license” rather than a “direct contract with Cellebrite”.

Software companies sometimes offer their products at different price points. A direct contract may include an agreement for the company to make bespoke alterations to the software to suit the client’s needs. A license may mean the tech is supplied ‘as-is’ in a more generic form. Boutcher did not elaborate on these sort of details, however.

PSNI’s previous illegal spying on journalists and solicitors

It’s somewhat of a moot point, given it is an obscenity to pump any money into a genocidal settler-colony’s coffers, regardless of the contract’s exact nature. The use of such software from the PSNI is also concerning given the force’s proven illegal surveillance of journalists and solicitors, not unlike the Serbian case above.

The McCullough Review from September 2025 outlined how the PSNI engaged in 21 unlawful uses of covert powers to acquire the sources of eight journalists. Journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey were among those spied on. The pair were investigating the Loughinisland massacre in which loyalist paramilitaries killed six people in an attack on a pub in 1994.

They said:

We are concerned that there has been an attempt to normalise state surveillance in Northern Ireland.

Solicitors Darragh Mackin and Peter Corrigan were also unlawfully surveilled by the North of Ireland police. UN officials said the PSNI’s spying on the two men:

…may amount to a violation of international standards protecting the right of lawyers to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference.

The Law Society of Northern Ireland said McCullough’s report had:

…highlighted instances of unauthorised surveillance directed at solicitors in Northern Ireland, including a failure on the part of the PSNI to respect legal professional privilege.

Adding further disgrace to the PSNI, Boutcher also revealed that the force have a £5.5 million contract with Source Tactical Gear Limited, another Israeli firm. It was already known that this sum was going to a company based in the apartheid land theft project, but the PSNI had refused to reveal any further information. Their response to a Freedom of Information request cited “security concerns” as the reason for refusal to reveal more.

Kelly exemplifies Sinn Féin failure on Palestine

Sinn Féin’s Kelly seemed entirely unmoved by either the revelation on the body armour contract or the use of Cellebrite. After Boutcher’s response, Kelly said:

Okay, thank you, chief constable. Actually, one of the answers that I did get back [to a previous question] was around the body armour. I don’t think I have an issue [with that]. It’s for protection of people.

That is indeed the purpose of body armour. However, it could be bought from any number of sources. There is no need to fund a settler-colony’s atrocities by purchasing it from them.

Concluding rambling and barely coherent remarks, Kelly then went on to mistakenly describe Mackin and Corrigan as journalists rather than solicitors. His behaviour underscores the hypocrisy of Sinn Féin on Palestine matters. Kelly was happy to go through the motions of asking the question, but do absolutely nothing to meaningfully hold the police to account for use of Zionist firms in contracts.

The party have similarly had fine words in support of those being slaughtered in Gaza, but have been happy to obfuscate as Stormont invest in making the planes used in the mass murder. They have also been willing to meet with one of the key men behind the slaughter, Genocide Joe Biden. Once in Washington party reps met with companies on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) list. The party has shown no initiative when it comes to ending tax breaks for the likes of Caterpillar, who make bulldozers used to wreck Palestinian homes.

Given this sort of ‘opposition’, it’s little wonder the PSNI feel free to sign contracts that pump millions into funding genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

Featured image via the Detail