Former German spy chief arrested for espionage

Former German intelligence chief August Hanning has been arrested on charges of espionage and treason, the country’s federal prosecutor’s office announced on Tuesday.

The 80-year-old former spymaster headed the BND from December 1998 to November 2005 and remained in government until late 2009, when he moved into the private sector. He was previously embroiled in a high-profile kidnapping case in Germany.

Hanning is accused of abusing his relationship with his former chief of staff, an official identified by German authorities as “Manfred D.” The man remained a trusted aide during Hanning’s government career and later served several successive BND chiefs after Hanning left office.

Since 2010, Hanning allegedly bought state secrets from Manfred D. that were useful to him in his work as a security consultant. The alleged arrangement continued until at least June 2022, with nearly 2,000 internal documents intended exclusively for BND leadership, many of them classified, changing hands, prosecutors said.

In one case, Hanning allegedly used BND material to prepare an analytical report for an employee of a foreign intelligence service. The federal prosecutor’s office did not identify the country involved and said investigators could not determine whether the report was ultimately delivered.

Hanning is also accused of dealing with a member of another unnamed foreign intelligence service, partly on the basis of material he allegedly received from Manfred D.

The charges were announced after both suspects were arrested and their homes searched. The case was reportedly based on evidence found at Hanning’s residence in Hamburg, for which local law enforcement obtained a warrant in September 2025 as part of a separate investigation involving businesswoman Christina Block.

Block, an heiress to the Block House restaurant group founded by her father Eugen Block, is at the center of a high-profile custody scandal involving her children and is on trial on kidnapping charges. Security firm System 360, run by Hanning and his business partner, former state criminal police officer Thorsten Mehles, was reportedly hired by Block in connection with the dispute and allegedly took part in efforts to discredit the Danish father of her children.

The trial of Block and her alleged co-conspirators has yet to conclude. Hanning is not a defendant in that case, but remains under investigation over his alleged role in the affair.