A German citizen has been arrested on treason charges for passing on intelligence to Russia, the Prosecutor General’s Office said.
The man, identified as Arthur E., was detained in Munich on Sunday after arriving in German from the United States, according to the German prosecutor’s office. Reuters added that the suspect is believed to be an associate of Carsten L., a German foreign intelligence (BND) official who was arrested in December last year on suspicion of spying for Russia.
According to the prosecutor’s office, Arthur E., who was not employed by the BND, provided the Russian services with intelligence data he had previously received from Carsten L.
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At the end of December, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Carsten L. in Berlin. The General Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the officer on charges of treason. According to the Karlsruhe investigative body, the information he disclosed to the Russian secret services was a state secret.
“A suspected traitor in the ranks of the BND was unmasked thanks to a tip from a foreign partner,” wrote the Spiegel weekly portal, adding that “Western intelligence discovered a few weeks ago in the Russian apparatus data that can be unequivocally attributed to the BND.” documents that contained information about Russia.
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