03 February,2009 12:22 PM IST | | Agencies
A New Zealand man, who bought a second-hand MP3 player that contained US military files on personnel who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, has handed it over to US officials.
Chris Ogle (29) bought the $10 MP3 at a thrift shop in Oklahoma, US. When he plugged it in, he discovered it contained 60 US military files.
The files contained the names and personal details of American soldiers as well as information about equipment deployed to bases and a mission briefing. Some files contained active mobile telephone numbers and social security numbers of military personnel.
US embassy officials in New Zealand spoke to Ogle last week and swapped his old MP3 player for a new one.
Said Ogle, "They asked where I'd bought it from, the timeframe that I bought it in." Ogle said the officials asked him what computers the player's files had been loaded onto and whether he had made copies and then photographed some of the files, but would not say how sensitive the information was.
