Ex-spy chief is arrested in Germany on suspicion of trading state secrets and treason

August Hanning came under scrutiny in a separate investigation into the abduction of a Hamburg businesswoman's children from her ex-husband in a custody battle that had been going on for several years. August Hanning, the former president of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), appears as a witness before the NSA investigative committee at the German parliament Bundestag in Berlin on Oct. 1, 2015. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP) BERLIN (AP) — A former head of Germany ’s foreign intelligence service was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion that he had passed state secrets to a foreign intelligence service, the federal prosecutor’s office said. August Hanning, who led the Federal Intelligence Service, known by its German acronym BND, from 1998 to 2005, is “strongly suspected of treasonous espionage, spying out state secrets, attempted treason, and espionage,” the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Hanning, 80, was arrested in Bad Toelz-Wolfratshausen in southern Germany. A former aide, identified as Manfred D., was also arrested Tuesday in Steinfurt in western Germany and has been charged with aiding and abetting attempted treason and treasonous espionage. “In one instance, there is suspicion that Mr. Hanning used classified information to prepare an analysis for an employee of a foreign intelligence service,” Ines Peterson, a spokesperson for the federal prosecutor’s office, told German broadcaster RTL later on Tuesday. “In another instance, he is alleged to have passed on information following an extensive exchange — also with an employee of another intelligence service.” Neither Peterson nor the earlier statement by the prosecutor’s office revealed who exactly the two men were suspected of spying for or which foreign intelligence services they provided with classified information. Premises belonging to both men were searched Tuesday. The prosecutor’s office said Manfred D. worked as Hanning’s chief of staff and later served as chief of staff for several subsequent BND presidents from 2012 until 2026. “In his role, he had access to confidential information,” the prosecutor’s office said. Both suspects are believed to have agreed in 2010 to have Manfred D. continuously transmit valuable intelligence from the BND to Hanning in exchange for payment, the statement said. “The current findings suggest that, over the years, Manfred D. provided Hanning with approximately 2,000 documents, many of which contained classified information to be used exclusively by the federal intelligence service for internal purposes, particularly for executive intelligence briefings,” the statement said. Hanning used the information in private consulting work and Manfred D., who in line with German privacy rules cannot be identified by his full name, provided Hanning with classified information until June 2022, Peterson said. Hanning came under scrutiny in a separate investigation into the abduction of Hamburg businesswoman Christina Block’s children from her ex-husband in Denmark in January 2024 in a custody battle that had been going on for several years. The investigation into that case led to Tuesday’s arrests. The current proceedings stem from evidence found during a search of Hanning’s residence in connection with that case, the federal prosecutor’s office stated. Hanning and a retired official from the Hamburg State Criminal Police Office are suspected of having accepted a contract from Block in 2022 to abduct her children while serving as executives of a security firm, the public prosecutor’s office announced in the fall of 2025, according to German news agency dpa. The Blocks are a prominent Hamburg family best known for their popular national steakhouse chain Block House. The custody trial has received a lot of attention in the country, with German tabloids offering heavy coverage from the court. A message to the BND for comment was not immediately returned. German opposition lawmaker Konstan