Google delivered a boob of a Christmas present to WikiLeaks by informing the organisation that it turned over an email account to the National Security Agency [NSA] following a request over two years ago.

A Twitter post by WikiLeaks stated that Google contacted the group on Christmas Eve to inform them the Gmail mailboxes and account metadata of an employee were handed over to law enforcement authorities after a US federal warrant had been issued, Ars Technica reports.

Further details on the warrant, which was served by the Eastern District of Virginia, were revealed by WikiLeaks journalist Sarah Harrison in a presentation at the Chaos Communications Congress in Hamburg on 29 December.

A redacted version of the warrant showed that it was due to be executed on or before 5 April, 2012 on a person or property located in the Northern District of California. The person’s name was redacted from the email and it was reportedly part of the investigation into criminal charges brought against WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange.

“We don't talk about individual cases to help protect all our users. Obviously, we follow the law like any other company. When we receive a subpoena or court order, we check to see if it meets both the letter and the spirit of the law before complying. And if it doesn't we can object or ask that the request is narrowed. We have a track record of advocating on behalf of our users,” read a comment from a Google spokesperson provided to Ars Technica.

The company itself failed to issue an official comment on the warrant and WikiLeaks has yet to issue any further details on the warrant with more expected to come out in the next few weeks.