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.