DHAKA: US president Barack Obama was personally informed of mobile phone tapping against German chancellor Angela Merkel, which may have begun as early as 2002.

German media reported on Sunday, says The Straits Times.

Bild am Sonntag newspaper quoted US intelligence sources as saying that National Security Agency chief Keith Alexander had briefed Obama on the operation against Merkel in 2010.

‘Obama did not halt the operation but rather let it continue,’ the newspaper quoted a high-ranking NSA official as saying.

Meanwhile newsweekly Der Spiegel reported ahead of its Monday issue that leaked NSA documents showed Merkel’s phone had appeared on a list of spying targets since 2002, and was still under surveillance weeks before Obama visited Berlin in June.

BDST: 1609 HRS, OCT 27, 2013
RoR/RK