No, they likely put a geolocation net around the child's phone and added everyone in it to a search list. No search warrant required for this type of fishing in

No, they likely put a geolocation net around the child's phone and added everyone in it to a search list. No search warrant required for this type of fishing in the UK afaik. Of course they probably kept all that data they swept up from innocent people who just happened to be near the phone. It's not really AI either. It's just checking things against a list.