.
.
.
Germany probes 2nd spy case allegedly involving US
German
authorities say they are investigating a second espionage case
reportedly involving the United States, just a week after the arrest of a
German intelligence employee.
The German federal prosecutors’ office said Wednesday that police
officers raided properties in the Berlin area on "initial suspicion of
activity for an intelligence agency.".
The office said no arrests have yet been made and no further details were given regarding the police operation.
.
According to the German newspaper Die Welt, the man being investigated was a soldier in the German army who had aroused the suspicion of the country's military counter-intelligence agency because of his close contacts to alleged US spies.
.
German media said the case was considered “more serious” than that of the employee of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, who was detained for alleged spying activities last week.
.
According to German media, the arrested BND employee is believed to have passed over 218 scanned documents since 2012.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has commented on the arrest of the BND employee, describing the spying scandal as a “very serious development,” adding, “It is a clear contradiction of the notion of trustworthy cooperation” between Germany and the US.The two espionage cases come as a German parliamentary inquiry is currently being held to assess the extent of spying by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and its partners on Germans, and whether German intelligence aided the activities.
The German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said “It would be most disturbing if the spying merrily continued while we're looking at the NSA wiretapping activities and have set up a committee in parliament.”
