Former German spy chief arrested on suspicion of treason

A former head of Germany's foreign intelligence service has been arrested on suspicion of espionage and attempted treason, in what one German broadcaster called the country's "biggest espionage scandal of the century".

Germany's federal prosecutor said on Tuesday that August Hanning, 80, who led the Federal Intelligence Service, known as the BND, from 1998 to 2005, faces charges including "treasonous espionage, obtaining state secrets, attempted treason" through contact with foreign intelligence services.

German media showed masked officers taking him from his home in Nordwalde, near Munster, to an armoured vehicle.

The allegations

Prosecutors say that in the spring of 2010, Mr Hanning agreed with his former office manager at the BND, named only as Manfred D under German privacy rules, that the aide would pass him valuable intelligence in return for payment. The arrangement allegedly continued until June 2022.

Over the years, Manfred D is said to have provided around 2,000 documents, "many of which contained classified information to be used exclusively by the Federal Intelligence Service for internal purposes, particularly for executive intelligence briefings". Prosecutors say Mr Hanning was to use the information in his work as a private consultant, and to prepare an analysis for a foreign intelligence service. It is not clear whether the analysis was handed over.

He is also accused of passing potentially sensitive political information to a contact representing a separate foreign intelligence service. Manfred D, who was in office until March this year, was also arrested and charged with aiding and abetting attempted treason and treasonous espionage.

Which countries?

Prosecutors have not named the countries involved. The magazine Der Spiegel reported, citing unnamed sources, that Mr Hanning was in contact with a representative of an Azerbaijani intelligence agency. The Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported that some of the documents related to Iran's nuclear programme and the Russian military.

How it came to light

The alleged espionage was uncovered during an investigation into a separate case, in which the businesswoman Christina Block is accused of arranging the abduction of her two youngest children from Denmark in 2023 during a custody dispute. Prosecutors in Hamburg allege that Mr Hanning put her in touch with a private Israeli security firm. That trial is continuing.

A senior career

Mr Hanning was born in Nordwalde in 1946. After leaving the BND he became a state secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior until 2009, and later worked as a consultant. If convicted of treason, he could face life imprisonment.

Why it matters

Germany has been hit by a series of espionage cases in recent years, many linked to Russia and China, and its security services have warned of growing efforts by foreign states to gather intelligence and influence politics. A case involving a former head of the BND itself would be one of the most serious breaches in the agency's history, and is likely to prompt questions about how former officials are vetted and monitored after they leave office.

The BND, based in Berlin, is Germany's equivalent of the UK's Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, and works closely with allied agencies, including Britain's.