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July 5, 2014

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Germany nabs man for alleged US spying

GERMAN authorities have arrested a German man employed by the domestic intelligence agency BND on suspicion of spying for the United States, two politicians with knowledge of the affair said yesterday.

The German Federal Prosecutor’s office said in a statement that a 31-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of being a foreign spy, but it gave no further details.

The affair risks further straining ties with Washington which were damaged by revelations last year of mass spying of German citizens by the US National Security Agency, which included monitoring Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone.

The man has admitted passing to an American contact details about a special German parliamentary committee set up to investigate the spying revelations made by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, the politicians said.

Both lawmakers are members of the nine-person parliamentary control committee, whose meetings are confidential, and which is in charge of monitoring German intelligence.

The committee probing the NSA affair also holds some private meetings.

“This was a man who had no direct contact with the investigative committee ... He was not a top agent,” said one of the politicians, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The suspect had offered his services to the US voluntarily, the source said.

The US embassy in Berlin declined to comment.

Germany is sensitive about surveillance because of abuses by the East German Stasi secret police and the Nazis.


 

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