Just as China just jailed a Canadian for spying on Beijing, following the arrest in Canada of a exec of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, German and British law enforcement on Wednesday also busted a Briton allegedly spying on his country for Russia.
The British embassy employee in Berlin was arrested outside of Berlin while providing documents to Russian intelligence in exchange for money.
The man, who is only being identified as David S, 57, under Germany’s strict privacy laws, was arrested on Tuesday in Potsdam, outside of Berlin, on suspicion of having worked for a foreign intelligence agency since November.
German federal prosecutors said in a statement that an investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe was to decide on whether the Briton should be remanded in custody.
In London, the Home Office confirmed the arrest, to which joint investigations by German and British authorities contributed.
A spokesman for the foreign office in Berlin stressed that it was taking the case very seriously.
“Intelligence spying on a close alliance partner on German soil is not something we can accept. That is why we will follow the further investigations by the federal prosecutor general very closely.”
According to the authorities, the man is under suspicion of intelligence agent activities.
He is said to have worked for the Russian secret service since November, at the latest.
On at least one occasion, he passed on material to the service that he had obtained in the course of his work.
It was not clear how much money he received in return from the representative of Russian intelligence service with whom he met, read the statement, which described the suspect as a local hire at the British embassy in the Germany capital