Eifionwen and Moses Edwards didn't miss much that happened in their small hamlet in the shadow of Eryri (Snowdonia). So when two strangers in a white car appeared on three occasions near their home in Tanyrallt near Talysarn, a small village in the Nantlle Valley, they were curious.
The couple's home overlooked the phone box, and on January 6, 1982, they saw the two men surreptitiously putting something in it. They waited until the pair left the scene and then went to investigate. It was a time of intense investigations in Wales by detectives and other agencies to try to find those responsible for the burning of holiday homes.
Speaking to journalists at the time, Moses said he found something similar to a walkie talkie in the box. He described it as being "omething like a policeman would use". As an intrigued Moses headed home the same vehicle returned along the lane that runs from Talysarn to Nebo, travelling at high speed and clipping the kerb in its haste. Moses added: "One of the men got out and said: 'I'll take it back. I'm working for the GPO.'" The General Post Office, or GPO, was at that point responsible for telephone services in Britain.
Moses didn't believe the line the man had given him. When efforts were made to trace the Birmingham registration number of the car police officers in the area saw their efforts thwarted by the Home Office.
Lord Dafydd Wigley was the local MP at the time. He told NorthWalesLive: "They claimed to be 'telephone engineers' but my constituents noted the car's registration and reported it immediately to Cllr Talfryn Jones who took the matter up with the local police. They confirmed – without appreciating the full implication of their action – that the car was a police car carrying no identification.
"The secret agents were not associated with the local constabulary – they were acting without authority and there was no process of public answerability. I met Home Secretary William Whitelaw who admitted there were no official guidelines to control such bugging. Even when guidelines were subsequently introduced who was to know whether they were followed?"
The incident sparked much debate in the area and beyond and renowned folk singer Dafydd Iwan even wrote and recorded a song about the phone box with folk group Ar Log. In one of the verses he mused upon whether the device was a means for then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to keep in touch with US President Ronald Reagan.
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