Two men in custody for suspected spying for China

They are said to have spied for China and specifically targeted technologies that could be used for military purposes – now two of the three Germans arrested are in custody. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution had apparently been keeping an eye on her for a long time.

After the arrests of three Germans for suspected spying for the Chinese secret service, the two men were taken into custody. As a spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe announced, the investigating judge has executed the arrest warrants. The arrested woman is to be brought before the investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice on Tuesday.

“As the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, we tracked down those involved at a very early stage and continued to monitor their behavior and activities,” said the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Thomas Haldenwang. According to the Federal Prosecutor General, those arrested are “strongly suspected of having been spying since a point in time before June 2022 that cannot be precisely determined.”

Military-use technologies in sight

Officials from the Federal Criminal Police Office arrested the three suspects on Monday in Düsseldorf and Bad Homburg, Hesse. According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, homes and workplaces were searched. The accused are said to have obtained information about military technology in Germany in order to pass it on to the Chinese secret service.

At the time of the arrests, the defendants were in negotiations about research projects that could be particularly useful for expanding China’s maritime combat power, according to the federal prosecutor’s office. In return for payment, they are also said to have exported a special laser to China without a permit for the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS), even though it is subject to EU regulations for both civilian and military use.

China rejects espionage allegations

Beijing rejected the espionage allegations from Germany. “We call on the German side to stop exploiting the espionage allegations to politically manipulate China’s image and defame China,” the Chinese embassy in Berlin told the state news agency Xinhua.

Cooperation with the Technical University in East Germany

One of the arrested men is said to have obtained the information for an MSS employee who was in China. To do this, he said, he used the arrested couple who ran a company in Düsseldorf. The company served as a “medium for contacting and collaborating with people from German science and research.”

According to information from the ARD capital studios According to investigative circles, a cooperation had already been established and further projects were in preparation. Sensitive information is also said to have already reached China – including about a high-performance engine that is suitable for combat ships.

In addition, there is said to have been a delivery of so-called “dual use” goods, which can be used for both civil and military purposes and fall under the Foreign Trade Act. According to the information, the project was financed by Chinese state authorities. The cooperation partners at German universities were apparently clueless.

Espionage by China with a view to economic advantages, but also military secret services, is considered one of the greatest threats to the German economy and universities.

With information from Michael Götschenberg and Holger Schmidt, ARD capital studio