Germany arrests couple accused of seeking high-tech research for China

A German couple suspected of spying for China has been arrested in Munich, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday.

The pair, both German citizens, allegedly established contacts with numerous scientists at German universities and research institutes in an effort to obtain “scientific information regarding high-tech with potential military applications,” the Karlsruhe-based Federal Public Prosecutor's Office said.

According to prosecutors, the suspected spies targeted professors in the fields of aerospace engineering, computer science and artificial intelligence.

They allegedly posed at times as interpreters and at other times as employees of a car manufacturer when approaching academics.

“Some scientists were lured to China under the pretext of giving paid lectures to a civilian audience,” prosecutors said. “In fact, such lectures were then delivered to members of state-owned defence companies.”

The two suspects were due to appear before an investigating judge at Germany’s Federal Court of Justice later on Wednesday, where arrest warrants would be formally presented and a decision on pre-trial detention taken.

The prosecutors said police operations linked to the case were carried out simultaneously in the states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. However, these measures involved approaching witnesses, not going after additional suspects.

In Munich, the private residences and workplaces of the two arrested individuals were searched.

The police investigation is being handled by the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office, in cooperation with Germany's BfV domestic intelligence agency.