Once upon a time (all good stories start like this) ENIGMA reader David Wales was having his breakfast and listening to the BBC World Service on 6195 kHz The date Friday 5 June 1998 and the time 0540 British Summer Time. David admits be only half listening (most people do to the BBC) when suddenly he heard a few seconds of a Numbers Station, followed by the comment that the station sounded harmless enough, but it originated from the Swiss Secret Service," It was something they were going to have to explain, said the report It went onto state that the Swiss Secret Service was facing moves to make it more accountable

David contacted ENIGMA to say that he was unable to identify the short burst of traffic but he contacted the BBC in the hope they could provide more details. His e-mail sent that day (5  June) finally received a reply on 23 June.

The item you heard in the early morning of 5 June was part of The World Today, which is a topical news programme and is not repeated. As World Service news programmes are not transcribed, and recording cannot be supplied for copyright and contractual reasons, we cannot unfortunately provide more information than the following. The report was filed by our Berne correspondent Imogen Foulkes, and was about the Swiss Secret Service having to fight for survival and take a step out of the darkness by explaining to the public exactly what they do and why they do it. We are sorry not to be able to   further, but hope this helps in some way.'

At the same time David had written to the BBC, ENIGMA also sent off a letter. in the hope of-making a two-pronged attack. No reply, so we wrote again, no reply. The only way to prompt the BBC into action is to write a letter with the word 'complaint' on the envelope. Finally on the 14th August (10 weeks after our first letter) the BBC replied. They stated. There is no record of your letters at this office. The remainder of the letter was almost word for word the letter that they sent to David back in June.

The only additional information we received was a rather bad photocopy of the running order of the news which contains the 44 word introduction to the 4 1/2  minute taped report which followed

So much then for the BBC helpful does not seem to be their middle name. Not to be down hearted (after all, years of investigating Number Stations gives you a healthy appetite in dealing with unhelpful organisations) we decided to write to Imogen Foulkes via the Swiss Broadcasting Service in Berne. Off sped our letter of 2 August back did not speed a reply. We wrote again on 3 October - (it seems the same people that work at the BBC World Service also open the post at Swiss Radio)

At last a reply dated October 5th (seven weeks after our initial inquiry). Imogen Foulkes wrote

"Thank you for your letters enquiring about my piece on the Swiss Security Service. Sorry not to get back to you sooner, but I have been on foreign assignments recently and therefore out of the country. I'm afraid I can't really help you with your enquiries The recording of the Security Services monitoring unit was made available to the press in the run up to the nationwide vote on the future of the service, and can't really be described as important (otherwise they wouldn't have released it to us, as I'm sure you understand) I don't have a copy of it any longer, and, radio being the temporary thing it is, I don't even have a copy of the piece I did. Neither Swiss Radio nor the BBC keep pieces very long - we Just don't have room. However if you went further information about the Swiss Security Service, I suggest you contact them directly."

It is alarming how  both the BBC & Swiss Radio are at replying to listener's letters. At present many International broadcasters are abandoning SW services to Europe in favour of satellite or Internet broadcasting The responses received represent nothing more than a 'brush off, in both cases prised from them. Disappointing to say the least. After all we are only members of the dwindling audience. We will let you know what the Swiss Intelligence Service has to say!