JAKARTA - German authorities said they had arrested a foreign intelligence service (BND) employee on Thursday on suspicion of sharing state secrets with Russia this year and treason.
Police arrested the suspect, a German citizen identified as Carsten L., on Wednesday in Berlin, the federal prosecutor's office said. It said the police also raided flat and his workplace and others.
"The defendant is suspected of treason against the state," the federal prosecutor said in a statement.
"In 2022, he shared the information he got while working with Russian intelligence agencies. The content is considered a state secret," said a federal prosecutor.
In a separate statement, BND said the employee had been placed in pre-trial detention and searches in two of his offices had been carried out.
BND started its own internal investigation that reached deep into the matter soon after realizing the possibility of betrayal within its own ranks, BND chief Bruno Kahl said in a separate statement. When this suspicion rose, BND called the federal prosecutor.
Intelligence is key in the future, as any published detail of the investigation could provide an "profit for opponents in their intention to harm Germany", Kahl said.
"With Russia, we are dealing with actors where we must take into account the atrocities and their willingness to commit violence," he said.
Thus, BND will not provide further details on the case until a federal prosecutor completes their investigation, Kahl added.
Earlier, German authorities had warned of a possible increase in Russian spies, given the Kremlin's dispute with the West over its invasion of Ukraine.
Last April, the German government expelled 40 "spy" Russia, according to the domestic intelligence agency.
The Russian embassy in Berlin did not immediately return a request for comment from Reuters.
The case comes days after Austria said it had identified a 39-year-old Greek national suspected of being a Russian spy.
The last time a German intelligence employee was arrested for treason was in 2014, although it was because it betrayed the secret of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
The man, identified as Markus R, was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2016. The episode at the time cooled the relationship between Berlin and Washington's close allies.
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