Ex-spy chief is arrested in Germany on suspicion of trading state secrets and treason

It is alleged that August Hanning used classified intelligence to “draft an analysis for an officer of a foreign intelligence service”. A former head of Germany 's foreign intelligence service was arrested on suspicion that he had passed state secrets to a foreign intelligence service, the federal prosecutor's office said.(Image credit: Michael Kappeler) August Hanning is accused of helping foreign governments.

His arrest shook the German political world and had roots in a steakhouse-heiress kidnapping plot. A former German intelligence chief has been arrested on suspicion of passing state secrets to a foreign intelligence service, federal prosecutors said. Former German foreign intelligence chief August Hanning was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of ​paying for access to classified documents and using them ‌to prepare an analysis for a foreign intelligence service, federal prosecutors said.

Prosecutors did not identify the foreign intelligence service, and it was not immediately ​clear whether the analysis reached its intended recipient. Prosecutors allege ​that five years after his tenure as head of ⁠the BND intelligence service ended in 2005, Hanning agreed with ​a former BND office manager to receive confidential intelligence information in ​exchange for payment. The office manager, identified as Manfred D.

in line with privacy rules, was also arrested on Tuesday. is suspected of having ​supplied around 2,000 documents over the years, including classified material ​intended solely for internal use within the BND and senior-level intelligence briefings ‌at ⁠the chancellery. Read: Kremlin says US spy chief held talks with Russian counterparts during Moscow visit According to prosecutors, Hanning used classified information supplied by D.

to prepare an analysis for an officer of a foreign intelligence service and for years shared political information with a representative ​of another foreign ​intelligence service. According ⁠to information obtained by the SZ newspaper, the case does not involve Russia. Hanning did not respond ​to a request for comment from Reuters.

The ​BND declined ⁠to comment and referred to prosecutors. The chancellery declined to comment. Police carried out arrests and searches in the states of Bavaria, North ⁠Rhine-Westphalia ​and Berlin on Tuesday, and both ​suspects were due to appear before a judge at the Federal Court of Justice, ​prosecutors added.