tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8880642673087161290.post9107719780075711900..comments2023-08-27T17:28:15.252+08:00Comments on CRANKSHAFT: What Are Their Priorities?Cranksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17466770053258278747noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8880642673087161290.post-30273888532513163612007-12-16T18:21:00.000+08:002007-12-16T18:21:00.000+08:00A video that was recorded by a security camera and...A video that was recorded by a security camera and subsequently made available to the public showed how a person arrived on a motor bike and then placed the bag with Nurin's body in the entrance area of the shop lot in PJ where it was found on the next day.<BR/><BR/>Before leaving the scene, the person made a phone call on a mobile phone.<BR/><BR/>Since the video had a time stamp, the exact time of the call was known. Similarly, the exact location, i.e. the "cell", from where the call originated was known.<BR/><BR/>Technically, mobile phones automatically register and deregister with operator equipment as they are being moved through different cells (which is why we sometimes experience dropped calls when we use the mobile phone in a car and the "handshake" in a new cell we are entering does not properly work). <BR/><BR/>Mobile phone operators do therefore have sufficient information to determine which of their customers (or more precisely, which of their customers' mobile phones) are in which cell at any given time. This information and the related ability to trace peoples' movements by mapping the registration/deregistration of specific handphones through different cells has in the past few years been successfully used by law enforcement authorities to nab criminals in various other countries (amongst others in Singapore where a group of criminals robbed and killed a money changer and then continued to use the victim's mobile phone).<BR/><BR/>Similarly, even though this may have required a bit more effort, mobile phone operators would have been able to identify from their usage databases and records which mobile number was used to make a specific call originating from a specific cell at a specific time, particularly if such call was made during off-peak hours at around 2 am in the morning. <BR/><BR/>Therefore, what the police should have done in Nurin's case was to immediately seek the full cooperation of the 3 mobile phone operators in Malaysia (Celcom, Maxis and DiGi) and to secure the device registration/usage records for the time slot and cell in question. Instead precious time was wasted trying to improve the quality of the video with the help of the FBI in the hope to eventually identify the face of the person in the video and some number plates of vehicles that were caught by the security camera as they were passing by.<BR/><BR/>As it transpired, by the time that the police finally tried to obtain the necessary usage data from the mobile phone operators it had already been deleted or overwritten with newer data. <BR/><BR/>With that, the probably most promising lead to nab the killer of Nurin Jazlin has been irreversibly lost. We may therefore have to wait patiently for the day that the hideous crime on this little innocent girl is being resolved, maybe forever and for vain.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com