Mexico City: A Mexican man was arrested on allegations of cyber spying on a journalist using Pegasus, a global spy tool that has been used to hack smartphones, according to the attorney general on Monday.

The suspect was detained last week in the central city of Queretaro and is being held in Mexico City, the prosecutor's office said in a statement which did not identify the targeted journalist.

The previous administration of Enrique Pena Nieto faced accusations of wiretapping human rights activists, opposition officials and journalists using Pegasus software, developed by Israeli company NSO Group.

Pena denied the accusations and said he would instruct a team to investigate the case.

According to recent local media reports, at least 50 people from the close circle of current president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who assumed power in 2018, have also been potential surveillance targets, including his wife, children and brothers.

The Pegasus Project is a collaborative investigation that involves more than 80 journalists from 17 news organisations in 10 countries coordinated by Forbidden Stories with the technical support of Amnesty International’s Security Lab. Read all our coverage here.

(Reuters)