Former German spy chief August Hanning arrested on espionage and treason suspicions

Arrest

German federal prosecutors say August Hanning, 80, former head of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of espionage, treason and obtaining classified information for a foreign power. Hanning led the BND from 1998 to 2005 and has since worked as a private security and business consultant. He was detained at his home in Nordwalde, near Münster, and is due in court on Wednesday.

At the same time, police arrested a former BND employee identified only as Manfred D. in Bavaria. He was Hanning's former chief of staff and, according to the BBC, remained linked to the agency's leadership from 2012 until this year. He faces charges of aiding and abetting attempted treason and treasonous espionage, and was scheduled to appear before the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe on Tuesday, the Guardian reports.

Allegations

Prosecutors allege that over the years Manfred D. supplied Hanning with roughly 2,000 documents in exchange for payment, many containing classified material intended solely for the BND's internal use. On one occasion, Hanning is accused of using classified intelligence to draft an analysis for an officer of a foreign intelligence service, though it remains unclear whether the material reached its intended recipient. He is further accused of maintaining close contact over several years with a representative of another foreign intelligence service, passing on political information partly based on material from Manfred D. Investigators have not named the countries involved. The Guardian adds that prosecutors believe Hanning intended to resell the documents as part of his paid consulting work, and that the scope of distribution remains under investigation. Properties linked to both men, including in Berlin, were searched on Tuesday.

Link to kidnapping case

According to both the BBC and the Guardian, suspicions against Hanning emerged from a separate case involving Christina Block, heiress to a German steakhouse chain, who is accused of orchestrating the 2023 kidnapping of her two youngest children amid a custody dispute — reportedly a cross-border seizure in Denmark from the children's father, who held custody. Investigators allege Hanning was involved in an earlier, failed attempt to abduct the children, which he denies; Block also denies the charges. The BBC reports that police found an electronic storage device at Hanning's home containing sensitive material, including recent BND documents.

Background

After leaving the BND, Hanning became Germany's most senior security official, overseeing all security agencies under interior minister Wolfgang Schäuble, before building an international consulting career. The Guardian notes he was well connected with government and business circles in Russia and China. This is not the BND's first such scandal: in 2023, officer Carsten L. was charged with treason for allegedly passing intelligence on the war in Ukraine and the Wagner mercenary group to Russia in exchange for about €400,000; his trial is ongoing.