Secret services
Spying for China? Three Germans arrested
Those arrested are said to have spied for the Chinese secret service. photo
© Oliver Berg/dpa
It’s about passing on information about military technology: The Federal Prosecutor’s Office arrests three Germans who are said to have worked for a Chinese secret service.
The federal prosecutor’s office has arrested three Germans on suspicion of spying for the Chinese Have the secret service arrested. The two men and a woman were arrested in Düsseldorf and Bad Homburg by officers of the Federal Criminal Police Office, as the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe announced. They are said to have worked for the Chinese secret service since June 2022 at the latest and in this context to have violated the Foreign Trade Act.
It is about passing on information about military technology to the Chinese secret service. At the time of their arrest, the accused were in negotiations about research projects that could be useful for expanding China’s maritime combat power, in particular, the statement said. The defendants’ homes and workplaces were searched.
Information on innovative technologies that can be used militarily is passed on
One of the men is said to be obtaining information on innovative technologies that can be used militarily for an employee of the Chinese secret service MSS who is in China. To do this, he “used” the arrested couple, who ran a company in Düsseldorf, according to the statement from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. The company served as a “medium for contacting and collaborating with people from German science and research.”
A study was prepared for a Chinese contractual partner on the state of the art of machine parts that are also used to operate powerful ship engines such as those used in combat ships. The secret service employee from whom one of the suspects received his orders stood behind the Chinese contract partner.
The accused are to be brought before the investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice on Monday and Tuesday, who will decide on the execution of the pre-trial detention.