Tracking down and recording words uttered by an individual at any o­ne time is no longer an impossible task, thanks to the advances in satellite technology, claimed an Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee quoting his interrogators.

Saari Sungib, in a 60-chapter personal account of the grilling he underwent during the 60-day detention period between April 10 and June 2, 2001, claimed the chief investigating officer had repeatedly boasted about the police force's success stories.

In the 158-page report, Saari quoted the chief investigating officer as saying that o­nce recording devices are "hidden in pens and certain objects", the monitoring can proceed smoothly.

"The device is for voice identification and is stored in a satellite's memory," stated the report.

"Whenever we want to track down what an individual is saying in his/her speeches as well as in secret meetings, all we need to do is activate the satellite memory and the voice-recording is done."