Police demands Starlink to reveal buyer of device found in $4.2 billion drug bust

[midian182]

What just happened? SpaceX's Starlink system offers online connectivity in the remotest parts of the world. One of the company's satellite devices was used to navigate Indian waters in November, which sounds like a good thing, except the boat in question was carrying $4.2 billion worth of methamphetamine. Now, Indian police have sent a legal demand to Elon Musk's firm demanding it reveal who purchased the device.

The Indian Coast Guard recorded its largest-ever drug bust last month when it reportedly seized 6,000kg (13,227 lb) of methamphetamine from a boat. Police estimated it was worth $4.25 billion.

The vessel was seized near the Andaman and Nicobar islands, a territory of India, as it traveled from Myanmar. It was operating under the guise of a legitimate fishing trawler, but it aroused suspicion after an aircraft on routine patrol spotted it near Barren Island, an uninhabited scuba diving hotspot. Police investigated, seized the boat, and arrested six Myanmar nationals.

Andaman and Nicobar officials have sent Starlink a police notice asking for details about the purchaser of one of its Starlink Mini internet devices that was found on the boat. It asks for the buyer's name and payment method, registration details, and where the device was used during the smugglers' time in international waters. The notice also asks for the mobile number and email registered to the Starlink account.

Starlink has spent years trying to secure licenses to operate in India. It appeared to have been successful last month when the country's telecom minister said Starlink was in the process of procuring clearances. The company has not yet secured these licenses, so it might be more willing than usual to help the authorities in this instance.

As reported by Reuters, sources say police sent a notice on December 4 under an Indian law that empowers authorities to seek information from companies in connection with an investigation.

In other Starlink news this week, a Ukrainian-American nonprofit organization submitted two filings to the FCC objecting to the company's proposal to put another 22,488 satellites into low-Earth orbit. It cites Elon Musk's alleged ties to Russia and the environmental impact among its reasons for opposing the plans.

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Police demands Starlink to reveal buyer of device found in $4.2 billion drug bust

 

[Endymio]

a Ukrainian-American nonprofit organization submitted two filings to the FCC objecting to the company's proposal to put another 22,488 satellites into low-Earth orbit. It cites Elon Musk's <a href="https://www.techspot.com/news/10587...opposes-spacex-expansion-citing-concerns.html">alleged ties</a> to Russia ...

Ironic, since Musk's Starlink has, since the war began, been the Ukrainian military's de facto communications network. In fact, Ukrainian officials have cited one of the primary difficulties they faced in their recent Kursk incursion is that the Starlink terminals won't function on Russian territory, which cut off communications with their ground units.

 

[VitalyT]

 

[3volv3d]

Waiting for the irony of all the starlink sattelites or their debris delaying or wiping out space x rockets.

Elon doesn't seem smart. A whole lotta money made from crap humans would be better off without

 

[Kotters]

Waiting for the irony of all the starlink sattelites or their debris delaying or wiping out space x rockets.

Elon doesn't seem smart. A whole lotta money made from crap humans would be better off without

How long do you think you'll be waiting?

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

Waiting for the irony of all the starlink sattelites or their debris delaying or wiping out space x rockets.

Elon doesn't seem smart. A whole lotta money made from crap humans would be better off without

First off, space is big. Very big. There is room for millions of satellites in LEO before launching rockets becomes tricky. Secondly, Starlink Satellites are in very low orbits & require active station keeping from their ion thrusters to maintain those orbits. Any possible debris from them will quickly deorbit on its own.
And finally, reasonably high speed, low latency internet that works on boats, planes, isolated areas, and so on is something many, many people find to be very useful. Who are you to decided that that the millions of people subscribing to Starlink right now would be better off without it?

 

[RudyBob]

Starlink, Musk.......hmmm must be a connection to drugs here we can prosecute Musk and Trump for.

 

[Marco Mint]

Meanwhile, if you called the indian police reporting the location of their scammer call centers, they laugh at you because you're outside of their country and your report means nothing to them.
Musk should tell them to go and do one!

 

[Kashim]

Starlink, Musk.......hmmm must be a connection to drugs here we can prosecute Musk and Trump for.

Call your doctor. Your paranoia medication needs a dose increase.

 

[PascalBP]

Meanwhile, if you called the indian police reporting the location of their scammer call centers, they laugh at you because you're outside of their country and your report means nothing to them.
Musk should tell them to go and do one!

You mean like the one time he tell Brazil to go **** off then a few weeks later he begged to be autorized again to run his nazi social media like app ?

 

[3volv3d]

Call your doctor. Your paranoia medication needs a dose increase.

Well musk is now dating Trump and one of them at least has done some criminal BS.

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

You mean like the one time he tell Brazil to go **** off then a few weeks later he begged to be autorized again to run his nazi social media like app ?

If you think a website as mild as X is "Nazi like" I think you need a reality check.

 

[Marco Mint]

You mean like the one time he tell Brazil to go **** off then a few weeks later he begged to be autorized again to run his nazi social media like app ?

Musk can do whatever he wants and I don't care about the outcome or what happens to him. He's nothing to me, but I'm saying what I would do, if it were me that someone was making demands on and I was in his position.
Is that ok with you?

 

[Theinsanegamer]

It's truly amazing how hard people with cope and seethe anytime something involving Musk occurs.

Waiting for the irony of all the starlink sattelites or their debris delaying or wiping out space x rockets.

As has been pointed out, these satellites require constant trust to stay in orbit, if they did hit something and become debris, they would quickly find their way out of the atmosphere.

Elon doesn't seem smart. A whole lotta money made from crap humans would be better off without

This is a prime example of the Dunning-Kruger effect in action. Pushing the EV revolution (and employing americans in the process, unlike US automakers), making re-usable rockets a reality, pushing for a revival of space travel, and bringing high speed internet to millions of underserved people are all things that have benefitted us as a species, and all things people praised musk for, before he bought twitter and exposed how corrupt the social media empire was. Suddenly, everything he has done is bad and he is bad.

Musk Derangement Syndrome is real.

Meanwhile, if you called the indian police reporting the location of their scammer call centers, they laugh at you because you're outside of their country and your report means nothing to them.
Musk should tell them to go and do one!

He will likely comply, Indian law doesnt prioritize privacy at all, and the market there is far too large to give up for one drug runner.

 

[PascalBP]

Musk can do whatever he wants and I don't care about the outcome or what happens to him. He's nothing to me, but I'm saying what I would do, if it were me that someone was making demands on and I was in his position.
Is that ok with you?

As a company, starlink is a corporate citizen in every country they do business with. And as a citizen, starlink is required to comply with every law of the countries. If Indian laws required to provide infos on customers, starlink must logically comply. Is it ok for you or do you think corporations are above laws ?

 

[PascalBP]

If you think a website as mild as X is "Nazi like" I think you need a reality check.

X is a nazi and far-right enabled social media. This is probably the reality check you need

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

X is a nazi and far-right enabled social media. This is probably the reality check you need

Lol, LMAO even. Try getting out of your bubble sometime, your Overton window is not aligned correctly. X is only "Nazi" if your definition of Nazi is so broad that it includes ~50% of the American population.

 

[Endymio]

Waiting for the irony of all the starlink sattelites or their debris delaying or wiping out space x rockets.

Starlink satellites are designed to destructively deorbit without leaving debris. Facts do matter, you know.

Elon doesn't seem smart. A whole lotta money made from crap humans would be better off without

It's rather ironic that you use the Internet to decry a global Internet service. Physician, heal thyself!

 

[Endymio]

As a company, starlink is a corporate citizen in every country they do business with. And as a citizen, starlink is required to comply with every law of the countries. If Indian laws required to provide infos on customers, starlink must logically comply. Is it ok for you or do you think corporations are above laws ?

You are very confused. Starlink is *not* operating in India at present. Indian officials are demanding usage logs for a Starlink terminal while operating in international waters -- along with who purchased the terminal and much other private information.

Do you believe Iran, say, or Taliban officials in Afghanistan, have the right to demand private details of your Internet usage outside their country?

 

[kiwigraeme]

Really a court order should handle this, isn't that how all the big ones handle it, Though I do believe some of them are a lot more accommodating than they let on

As the comment we can put up millions of satellites , talk to the astronomers, skywatchers and people who want to see a the stars unfettered by 10000 plus satellites always streaming across

Most of yous are in Northern Hemisphere , living in big towns, cities with massive light pollution,
You are lucky to see the milky way it all it's glory once every 5 years , same of you have NEVER seen it

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

Really a court order should handle this, isn't that how all the big ones handle it, Though I do believe some of them are a lot more accommodating than they let on

As the comment we can put up millions of satellites , talk to the astronomers, skywatchers and people who want to see a the stars unfettered by 10000 plus satellites always streaming across

Most of yous are in Northern Hemisphere , living in big towns, cities with massive light pollution,
You are lucky to see the milky way it all it's glory once every 5 years , same of you have NEVER seen it

You are right; huge numbers of satellites in LEO is a pain for astronomers. However, having that satellite com network is extremely useful to airlines, shipping lines, cruise lines, people living in very rural areas, trucking companies, the US & allied militaries, other government agencies (like the Forestry service or Coast Guard), and rich people with yachts. Between all those groups the astronomers are probably going to get the short end of the stick.

 

[Dimitrios]

Weird, why won't you talk about our admin selling us out and allowing drones to fly around doing god knows what.I recommend looking up drone tech by Hunter and China. Look up metabiota, draganfly, Bohai Harvest, F++. We got drones circling over my state for weeks. We got no answers. Where are the so called geeks here exposing this? What's up? You're so worried if Musk or Trump farts. Where is the care and focus of REAL issues?

Why won't you talk about YouTube using bots to encourage violence. It's disgusting how the LEFT media and Trashtube are normalizing crime like that CEO HEALTHCARE shooting. The bots are targeting comments, saying it's justified. These bots are leaving an obvious pattern on video channel topics and brainwashing people. It's some sort of social experiment to ruin our country from the inside out. Youtube keeps removing my comments and banning me if I try and expose it. This site seems to really hate Musk & Trump.

 

[Dimitrios]

X is a nazi and far-right enabled social media. This is probably the reality check you need

WOW LOL! Are you serious? Please tell me you're joking. Wow LEFT news have brainwashed a lot of people. Wow just wow!

 

[ccccn]

Elon a Russian agent LOL. We all know the whole Russia nonsense was completely fabricated but people still believe it .

It is now clear that the inner circle of the Obama White House, including the former President himself, were coordinators of the entire Russia hoax from inception through the Mueller inquisition.

A coordinated conspiracy run from the Obama White House

That all elements of the senior departments of the major agencies of the United States Government were illegally weaponized to destroy a political opponent. A coordinated assault on the constitution and the Republic.

To sabotage an incoming President. Overthrow the government of the United States. Abuse their authorities to openly frame, smear and seek the destruction and criminal indictment of a duly elected President using the evidence they themselves fabricated.

Clapper said that everything he and John Brennan had done prior to and during the 2016 election was explicitly on Barack Obama’s orders.

 

[umeng2002]

Waiting for the irony of all the starlink sattelites or their debris delaying or wiping out space x rockets.

Elon doesn't seem smart. A whole lotta money made from crap humans would be better off without

You know how large the surface of the Earth is? Now imagine a surface of Earth every few feet up... That's how much space there is around Earth. "Orbit" is not just one extra surface that all objects have to share.