US says will pursue Apple phone data in New York drug case

NEW YORK: The U.S. Justice Department says it will continue trying to force Apple to reveal a phone's data in a New York drug case.

The government told a Brooklyn judge Friday it still wants an order requiring Apple's cooperation even though it no longer needs the company's help with a phone linked to a mass shooting in California.

An Apple lawyer did not immediately return a request for comment.

The Justice Department recently dropped a legal fight to compel Apple to help it break into an iPhone used by a gunman in the December attack in San Bernardino, California, that killed 14 people.

A magistrate judge had blocked the government from forcing Apple to help in the Brooklyn case. The government appealed to a district judge.