Berlin — An American man who worked at a U.S. military facility in Germany and allegedly offered to supply sensitive information to China has been indicted on espionage charges, German prosecutors said Monday.
The suspect, identified only as Martin D. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested in Frankfurt in early November. In an indictment sent to the state court in Koblenz earlier this month, he is charged with having declared his willingness to engage in espionage for a foreign intelligence service, federal prosecutors said.
The man, in his late thirties, worked between 2017 and early 2023 for a civilian contractor of the U.S. Defense Department, and worked at an unidentified U.S. military facility in Germany from at least 2020 onward, prosecutors said in a statement.
He is accused of contacting Chinese authorities repeatedly in the summer of 2024 and offering to provide sensitive U.S. military information for Chinese intelligence.
German media have reported that the suspect apparently didn’t manage to transfer any data to Chinese authorities before his arrest.
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The court in Koblenz will now have to decide whether to send the case to trial and, if so, when.
The case has been investigated by the federal prosecutor’s office, which ordered the arrest on a warrant issued on Oct. 30, 2024.
“Due to a pressing suspicion, the accused stands charged with offering himself as an agent to a foreign intelligence service,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement at the time of the arrest.
Martin D. is accused of offering to share confidential information he acquired during his work with the U.S. military in Germany, which involved working as a contractor for a private firm that provided services to American forces based in the central state of Hessen.
His arrest came amid growing concern in Western capitals about espionage and sabotage activities by foreign powers, particularly China and Russia. Just days earlier, a source familiar with the matter told CBS News that American and European law enforcement agencies were jointly investigating whether incendiary devices that detonated in July 2024 at DHL logistics hubs in Germany and the U.K. were part of a larger operation directed by Russia’s military intelligence agency.