Zach Campbell, senior surveillance researcher at Human Rights Watch, said that “these licenses are clear evidence that Bulgaria is licensing exports of surveillance tech worldwide to police, military and intelligence agencies in countries with long histories of using that same technology to crack down on rights.”
Global connections
According to the license documents, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Intelligence Service purchased server and storage infrastructure from Circles BG worth more than $42,000 (€40,000) in a license issued in June 2022. The equipment included Dell servers, storage arrays and remote-access hardware.
It also purchased a tracking system that uses cellphone towers to pinpoint the location of mobile phones, which was valid until Dec. 2023 — spanning the most consequential months in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict since the 2020 war. Citizen Lab and Amnesty International published a report in May 2023 finding Pegasus spyware targeted Armenian public figures.
Meanwhile, in Serbia, the interior ministry purchased a portable mobile-phone surveillance and location-tracking device for $18,254 (€17,300), the documents showed, a few months before the Dec. 2023 elections. In 2024, Amnesty International reported that Serbian authorities had used spyware against journalists and civil society activists, allegations the government has disputed.
In the United Arab Emirates, the country’s Signals Intelligence Agency purchased an interception system known as “Voice Over Location Enabler” (Vole) through Abu Dhabi-based Securetech LLC in 2018 for $10,000 (€9,500), according to the documents. A separate license shows the UAE’s Electronic Government Authority purchasing the same system in 2019.
Malaysia’s military intelligence service also obtained a Vole system through Telekom Malaysia Berhad, the country’s largest telecommunications provider, the documents showed. The package, valued at more than $52,000, included installation and training services.
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