German authorities have arrested August Hanning, the former head of the country’s BND foreign intelligence service, on suspicion of espionage and other serious national security offenses, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Hanning led the Bundesnachrichtendienst, or BND, from December 1998 until November 2005. He later served as a state secretary at Germany’s Federal Interior Ministry until 2009.
According to federal prosecutors, Hanning is suspected of offenses including espionage, disclosure of state secrets, attempted treason and acting as an intelligence agent.
Another former senior BND official was also arrested in connection with the investigation. Prosecutors allege the second suspect provided Hanning with hundreds of classified documents in exchange for payment.
German media identified the second man only as Manfred D., in accordance with the country’s privacy laws. He was reportedly Hanning’s chief of staff during his time at the BND and later worked under him at the Interior Ministry until 2009.
Hanning was arrested early Tuesday at his home in Nordwalde, near the western German city of Münster, according to reports from German broadcasters WDR and NDR and the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Manfred D. was taken into custody in Bavaria.
Authorities also conducted searches at properties linked to both suspects, as well as at locations in Berlin, federal prosecutors said.
Manfred D. is suspected of aiding and abetting attempted treason and espionage against the state.
The arrests have sent shockwaves through Germany’s political and intelligence establishment because of Hanning’s former position at the highest levels of the country’s security apparatus.
DW chief political editor Michaela Küfner described the developing case as potentially Germany’s “biggest espionage scandal of the century.”
Marc Henrichmann, chairman of the German parliament’s intelligence oversight committee, said authorities would take a firm approach to any alleged compromise of classified information.
“Germany will not tolerate the betrayal of secrets,” Henrichmann said, according to AFP. “Whoever allies themselves with the enemies of our liberal democracy will be found out.”
The investigation into Hanning reportedly emerged from information connected to a separate high-profile court case involving German businesswoman Christina Block.
Authorities have not yet publicly disclosed who allegedly received the classified information, the nature of the documents involved or whether a foreign government was ultimately behind the suspected intelligence activity.
The investigation remains ongoing, and the allegations against Hanning and Manfred D. have not been proven in court.
