The FBI announced Friday it found a way to hack the iPhone of a Brooklyn man charged with distributing methamphetamine.
Federal agents had asked Apple officials to unlock the device, but the technology company refused.
“Yesterday evening, an individual provided the passcode to the iPhone at issue in this case,” U.S. Attorney Robert L. Capers wrote in a letter to the court obtained by BuzzFeed News. “Late last night, the government used that passcode by hand and gained access to the iPhone.”
The suspect, Jun Feng, had told law enforcement he could not remember the password to his phone, preventing authorities, who believed Feng was part of a drug conspiracy, from taking action.
Apple responded to the Justice Department’s request by challenging them, saying they had not “exhausted alternative means for extracting data from the iPhone.”
A DOJ spokesperson told Buzzfeed the agency has withdrawn its request, but 12 others regarding separate cases still stand and Apple has refused to assist the government with all other requests.
