By GB News (World News) | Created at 2026-10-07 07:16:08 | Updated at 2026-10-08 09:42:43
1 day ago
A German spy chief may have sold British secrets to a foreign power, intelligence agencies fear.
August Hanning, the former president of Germany's equivalent of MI6, and a senior serving intelligence official were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of espionage and treason.
Authorities have identified the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) officer only as Manfred D in what they fear could be the biggest espionage scandal in modern history.
Prosecutors accuse Mr Hanning of amassing thousands of classified documents over 16 years through Manfred D, who remained in post at the BND until earlier this year, and of passing secrets to a foreign power.
MI6 and GCHQ, along with multiple American agencies, are understood to be scrambling to assess how exposed they have been by the alleged leak.
The services are said to be carrying out a systematic audit of every piece of sensitive material passed to European allies during the period in question, The Telegraph reports.
German security sources have confirmed some of the high-level intelligence handled by Mr Hanning and Manfred D originated from foreign partner agencies, raising the alarming possibility that British and American secrets were among the compromised material.
Agents working in the field may have been compromised, with their identities potentially traceable through shared intelligence that leaked outside secure channels.
MORE TO FOLLOW
