Germany arrests three people for working as foreign intelligence agents – DW – 06/21/2024

The German federal prosecutor's office said on Friday that three foreign nationals suspected of working for foreign secret services had been arrested.

The three accused are said to have traveled to Germany on behalf of a foreign secret service to gather information on a Ukrainian person staying in the country.

What we know so far

Police in the state of Hesse arrested the three men in the German financial center of Frankfurt am Main and requests for an arrest warrant were filed with an investigating judge. The three men appeared in court on Thursday to be held in custody ahead of possible charges.

The three men are said to have spotted a café in the German financial center of Frankfurt am Main, where the targeted person was said to be located.

Prosecutors named the three only as Ukrainian national Robert A., Armenian national Vardges I. and Russian national Arman S. Their full names have not been released, in line with German press and privacy rules .

Series of arrests for espionage

A series of espionage cases in Germany, involving suspected Russian and Chinese agents, have attracted attention.

Two Russian-German dual nationals were arrested in April for allegedly spotting potential sabotage targets on German soil.

Meanwhile, a senior officer in Germany's foreign intelligence service (BND) remains on trial in Berlin for treason, for allegedly passing top secret information to Russian spies with the help of a co-defendant.

An employee of German Member of the European Parliament Maximilian Krah, a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, was arrested in April on suspicion of spying for China.

Also in April, three suspected spies allegedly working for China were also arrested in Germany. The group was accused of seeking to gather sensitive information about German military technology through a front company.

rc/lo (AFP, Reuters)