Marlaska's cell phone was also spied on with Pegasus

The mobile phone of the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, was also spied on with the Pegasus system, according to what this newspaper has learned from government sources. His case joins those of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, whose terminals were also infected by the Israeli system, as revealed by the Executive on Monday, at a press conference.

The Government assures that "it neither knows nor should know if Aragonès has been spied on"

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After the group of Citizen Lab researchers made public the espionage of 66 independence leaders, lawyers and journalists, the Government activated the analysis of the phones of all its members to find out if they had been tapped through Pegasus. The work is being carried out by the National Cryptologic Center (CCN), dependent on the National Intelligence Center (CNI).

The Sánchez and Robles terminals were the first to be analyzed and that is why it became known that they had been spied on earlier this week. This Thursday the infection of Grande-Marlaska's cell phone was confirmed, although sources from the Interior assure the EFE agency that they have not been informed of the espionage to their top boss.

The rest of the ministers have also given their phones to the CCN and await results. In addition, the Government has offered to investigate its terminals to other senior members of the Executive, as well as regional leaders.

Espionage against independence

The infection of Grande-Marlaska's mobile has been known just a few hours after the director of the CNI, Paz Esteban, appeared for a little over three and a half hours behind closed doors in the commission of reserved expenses of the Congress to explain the espionage to people linked to the independence movement. The head of the Spanish secret services has acknowledged that only part of the surveillance that she revealed was carried out by the CNI with judicial authorization.

Among the spies that Esteban has admitted is the current president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, according to what two sources familiar with the appearance explained to elDiario.es. The rest, according to spokespersons present, could be responsible for the secret services of other countries or "other State agencies with espionage capacity," according to Gabriel Rufián when leaving the commission.