Berlin — An American man who labored at a U.S. army facility in Germany and allegedly provided to produce delicate data to China has been indicted on espionage costs, German prosecutors mentioned Monday.
The suspect, recognized solely as Martin D. consistent with German privateness guidelines, was arrested in Frankfurt in early November. In an indictment despatched to the state courtroom in Koblenz earlier this month, he’s charged with having declared his willingness to interact in espionage for a overseas intelligence service, federal prosecutors mentioned.
The person, in his late thirties, labored between 2017 and early 2023 for a civilian contractor of the U.S. Protection Division, and labored at an unidentified U.S. army facility in Germany from at the very least 2020 onward, prosecutors mentioned in a press release.
He’s accused of contacting Chinese language authorities repeatedly in the summertime of 2024 and providing to supply delicate U.S. army data for Chinese language intelligence.
German media have reported that the suspect apparently did not handle to switch any information to Chinese language authorities earlier than his arrest.
Andreas Arnold/image alliance/Getty
The courtroom in Koblenz will now must resolve whether or not to ship the case to trial and, in that case, when.
The case has been investigated by the federal prosecutor’s workplace, which ordered the arrest on a warrant issued on Oct. 30, 2024.
“Attributable to a urgent suspicion, the accused stands charged with providing himself as an agent to a overseas intelligence service,” the prosecutor’s workplace mentioned in a press release on the time of the arrest.
Martin D. is accused of providing to share confidential data he acquired throughout his work with the U.S. army in Germany, which concerned working as a contractor for a personal agency that offered companies to American forces based mostly within the central state of Hessen.
His arrest got here amid rising concern in Western capitals about espionage and sabotage actions by overseas powers, significantly China and Russia. Simply days earlier, a supply accustomed to the matter advised CBS Information that American and European legislation enforcement companies have been collectively investigating whether or not incendiary gadgets that detonated in July 2024 at DHL logistics hubs in Germany and the U.Ok. have been half of a bigger operation directed by Russia’s army intelligence company.
