An official of the institution of the German Ministry of Defense responsible for the equipment of the Armed Forces has been arrested this Wednesday in Koblenz (west of the country) due to the suspicion that he carried out espionage work for Russia.
As reported by the Federal State Prosecutor's Office, the arrest occurred at the request of the investigating judge of the Federal Court. The police have also searched the home and workplace of the individual, identified as Thomas H. and a German national.
According to a statement from the institution, he is an employee of the Federal Agency for Equipment and Information Technology of the Bundeswehr (German army), based in Koblenz and dependent on the Ministry of Defense.
"Starting in May 2023, [the detainee] approached the Russian Consulate General in Bonn and the Russian Embassy in Berlin on several occasions on his own initiative and offered them cooperation," the Prosecutor's Office said.
"On one occasion, he transmitted information obtained in the course of his professional activity, with the aim of transferring it to a Russian secret service," the institution added.
The investigation that resulted in the arrest of the official was carried out in cooperation with the German military intelligence services and with the secret service of the Interior, the Agency for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).
The detainee appeared this Wednesday before the investigating judge, who has ordered his entry into pretrial detention.
In what constitutes one of the biggest espionage scandals in recent German history, a department head of the Federal Information Service (BND) was arrested in Berlin in December 2022, accused of high treason for transmitting information classified as secret state to Russian intelligence.
