EMBASSY BUGGED

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33382, 14 November 1973, Page 17

EMBASSY BUGGED

(N.Z. P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) PARIS, Nov. 13. Microphones linked to a sophisticated electronic system were found in every room in the French Embassy in Warsaw earlier this year, a Gaullist deputy told Parliament yesterday. Mr Jacques Marette, rapporteur of the Foreign Ministry budget, told the National Assembly that the stereophonic listening apparatus was discovered during a routine check. He did not mention Poland by name, but said that the embassy in question had been built in 1971 at a cost of 25 million francs (SNZ4m), which made it clear that he was referring to the Warsaw Embassy. “The listening system

was the most sophisticated, the most refined, the most complete, ever discovered in the world,” he said. “It included at least 42 microphones hidden in the walls of every room. Workers had to tear up floors, pull down ceilings, open up shafts masking power cables, and tear holes in cellars with pneumatic drills to dismantle the network.” Mr Marette, who said that he had found out about the bugging during an inspection tour of French embassies, asked the Foreign Minister (Mr Michel Jobert) what the Government had done about the incident, and what the Polish Government’s reply had been. Mr Jobert did pot reply.