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Germany arrests Chinese national on suspicion of spying

Published October 1, 2024last updated October 1, 2024

A Chinese citizen has been arrested in Leipzig, where she worked at the airport. She is accused of passing on information about the transport of military equipment to another suspected agent.

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A plane docked at the Leipzig/Halle airport at night
The suspect, who worked at the Leipzig airport, is accused of providing information that included flight, cargo and passenger dataImage: Jan Woitas/dpa/picture alliance

The German public prosecutor's office said Tuesday a Chinese woman had been arrested on suspicion of being an intelligence agent for a Chinese secret service. 

The suspect, identified as Yaqi X., worked for a company that provides logistical services at the Leipzig/Halle Airport in eastern Germany, according to prosecutors. 

Prosecutors said in a statement that X. used her position to gather information on "the transport of military equipment and persons with connections to a German arms company."

Connection to another suspected agent

From mid-August 2023 until mid-February, X. "repeatedly" provided information to Jian G., a separately prosecuted suspect, according to the prosecutor's statement.

The information allegedly included details about flights, freight and passengers at the airport, as well as transportation of military equipment. 

A former employee of far-right politician Maximilian Krah, Jian G. was arrested in April on suspicion of espionage.

According to the prosecutor's office, G. allegedly spied on Chinese opposition members in Germany and passed on information about negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament to the secret service.

Krah, a member of the European Parliament and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, had his offices searched earlier this year in connection with the case against G.

*Editor's note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and obliges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases. 

fb/nm (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

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