BRITISH spooks were accused of acting like they are above the law yesterday after a fresh tranche of allegations about illegal mass surveillance.

Reports yesterday accused government spy agency GCHQ and the US National Security Agency (NSA) of stealing confidential codes from a Dutch Sim card manufacturer that allow them to hack into mobile phones around the word.

US news website Intercept said information from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden showed that the agencies had teamed up to access Gemalto’s networks, stealing encryption keys used to decode the data that passes between mobile phones and pylons to unscramble calls, text and emails.

The hacks, which are said to have occurred in 2010 and 2011, allegedly led to the interception of 300,000 keys for mobile phone users in Somalia, as well as wireless network providers in Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen, India, Serbia, Iceland and Tajikistan.

The latest allegations come at the end of a highly damaging week for both the security services and the government.

On Wednesday the government was forced to concede that its protocols for allowing the monitoring of privileged lawyer/client communications were unlawful.

The admission came during a case before the secretive Investigatory Powers Tribunal in a case brought by Amnesty International and legal action charity Reprieve on behalf of a Libyan couple who suffered rendition and torture in a joint MI6/CIA operation.

Amnesty UK legal programme director Rachel Logan said: “This mass Sim hacking allegation seems be just the latest disturbing revelation about how GCHQ has overreached. These spooks must stop pretending the law doesn’t apply to them.

“We keep seeing the intelligence agencies claiming everything’s fine and then being caught out when challenged in court.

“Twice in the past fortnight government spies have been rumbled breaking the law, most recently earlier this week when they were forced to concede their system for intercepting lawyer/client communication was illegal.”

A GCHQ spokeswoman said they do not comment on intelligence matters but claimed that all of GCHQ’s work “is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework, which ensures that our activities are authorised, necessary and proportionate, and that there is rigorous oversight.”