THREE Chinese spies have reportedly been arrested in Germany for passing on military secrets to Beijing and stealing clever laser technology.
Federal Prosecutor General Jens Rommel detained the trio of suspected spies after accusing them of reporting top secret military information back to the Chinese secret service.
GettyA trio of suspected spies for China have been arrested in Germany[/caption]
Investigators arrested a 59-year-old man from Bad Homburg and a couple from Düsseldorf this morning on strong suspicions of “secret service agent activity”.
They have also violated the Foreign Trade Act, say German prosecutors.
The main suspect has been dubbed Thomas R and is said to have been in contact with an employee of the Chinese secret service (MSS).
He used his connections in Germany to obtain data on “innovative technologies that could be used militarily”, claim officials.
Officers believe he enlisted the help of Herwig, 72, and Ina F, 58, to obtain the secrets.
The couple run a company in Düsseldorf and investigators are convinced the company could have served “as a medium for establishing contact and collaboration” with German scientists and researchers.
The three arrested are accused of stealing a specially made laser from German labs under MSS orders, say the Federal Prosecutor’s Office.
It is believed they managed to sneak the device out of Europe and into the hands of Chinese secret agents.
Some of the information that has been passed on is around modern machine parts for ship engines.
The engines are commonly used in combat ships in war zones.
They will now be bought in front of an investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice.
It comes as two more alleged spies suspected of planning to sabotage military aid intended for Ukraine were arrested.
The men, identified only as Dieter S and Alexander J, are said by officials to be dual German–Russian nationals.
They were reportedly discussing possible acts of sabotage in Germany with a person linked to Russian intelligence since October.
Dieter S was also accused of declaring himself willing to carry out bombing and arson attacks on military infrastructure.
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