Suspected Russian spy arrested in German intelligence agency | DW News

An employee of the German intelligence agency the BND has been arrested after being suspected of sending classified information to Russia.

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday arrested an employee of Germany's foreign intelligence agency, the BND, on suspicion of treason after an internal BND investigation revealed that he had allegedly been leaking classified information to Russia.

Prosecutors said that the suspect was a German national named Carsten L., and that his home and workplace, and that of one other person, had been searched.

In a statement released on Thursday afternoon, the BND said that the employee had been placed in custody and that searches at two BND offices had been carried out.

"After the BND became aware of a possible case of treason within its own ranks in the course of its intelligence work, the BND immediately launched extensive internal investigations," BND President Bruno Kahl said in the statement. "When these substantiated the suspicion, the Federal Attorney General was immediately called in."

Kahl added that the BND was working closely with investigators but would not be releasing any further details.

"Restraint and discretion are very important in this particular case," he added. "With Russia, we are dealing with an actor on the opposite side whose unscrupulousness and willingness to use violence we must reckon with. Every detail of this operation that becomes public means an advantage for this adversary in its intention to harm Germany."

This is the first time that a BND employee has been arrested for suspected treason since 2014, when a spy named Markus R. was accused of leaking information to US intelligence agencies. He was convicted in 2016 and sentenced to eight years in prison.

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#Spy #Russia #counterintelligence

[JasmineTea]

This kind of stuff is really interesting. It’s a whole other world away from the public.

[mweskamppp]

As far as i heard he was quite a high level analyst of IT, phone and radio intelligence, getting informed by UK and US services as well. This could be one of the biggest spy story for the last decades.

[factsare]

His betrayal I'm sure has caused a lot of death

[vaclav]

Russian diplomat is just different word for russian spy.

[AndyM_YYY]

I hope the sentencing takes into account the fact he was giving aid to a country that routinely commits war crimes.

[jubb]

By disclosing more information, they would just be more embarrassed publicly, at this point anyone that knows connected to this is most likely already aware of the situation fully.

Having said that, im happy they caught the person.

[putra]

Germany lately making a good move, happy to hear in this dark times.

[ethanboyd]

A Russian spy in Germany? This has never happened before lol

[KevinQuesada]

If found guilty they should make an example of him

[lorddebate]

Not only Russia, you can find some of them working with china too

[marilenaganea]

One Seriously? Keep digging... There are thousands, at least

[musico]

Spies in different countries played an important role in world history. They add spice to it.

[ACE-zeqg]

Damn Berlin is still the Capitol of Spies
Sounds like a new Tom Clancy yarn

[vivalaminion]

If only the US could do the same with Boebert, Gaetz, MTG, trump and Co.

[daboz]

"informants in Russia"... you just admited Germany has spies in Russia x)

[izenkixiron]

Germany is having "interesting" times, eh? From a far-right coup plot to an exploding aquarium and now, a Russian spy?

[garystewart]

well half of germany used to be soviet spies, so not really that shocking.

[justagentleman]

One thing is for sure. The German secret service doesn’t mess around

[wokeaf]

damn RuZZia never left the cold war behind

[shaik.m.abdullah]

nothing new, nothing abnormal. spying is one of most oldest job.