⚡️🇩🇪 — Former BND Chief August Hanning Arrested in Historic German Treason and Espionage Scandal, — The Telegraph.

​➡️ The former head of Germany’s BND intelligence service, August Hanning, 80, has been arrested at his home in Steinfurt county under orders from Germany’s federal prosecutor on suspicion of espionage and treason, in what could amount to Europe’s gravest postwar spy scandal. Hanning is suspected of spending 16 years illegally collecting classified documents and selling some of the information to an undisclosed foreign power. In a separate raid, a senior BND official, named Manfred D under German privacy laws, was arrested at his home in Bavaria on suspicion of aiding in treason, with prosecutors stating that both suspects agreed in the spring of 2010 to have Manfred D continuously transmit valuable intelligence from the BND to Hanning in exchange for remuneration.

​➡️ Prosecutors alleged that Hanning drafted an analysis for an officer of an undisclosed "foreign intelligence service." Der Spiegel reported that the analysis was prepared for the intelligence services of Azerbaijan (one of Turkey’s closest allies), and Hanning is reportedly a board member of the "German-Azerbaijani Forum." The investigation into Hanning began by accident in 2025 when police raided his home during an unrelated abduction case involving Christina Block (heiress of a German steakhouse chain suspected of abducting her children). During this raid, police found 2,000 highly sensitive security documents he had no right to possess, including reports on BND senior leadership and briefing materials for weekly intelligence meetings at the German chancellery.

​➡️ According to Süddeutsche Zeitung, the data obtained by Hanning includes highly sensitive situation assessments, classified material from foreign partner agencies, and reports on the Iranian nuclear program and the Russian military. A key focus of the investigation is Hanning's links to Russia and whether any material fell into Moscow's hands, noting he made at least seven trips to Russia between 2015 and 2019, worked as a consultant on Russia issues for London-based firm G3, and previously appeared as a witness in a London courtroom in support of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Furthermore, Hanning is known to have kept close relations with various Russian businessmen and organizations since his time as a diplomat in East Berlin in the late 1980s.

​➡️ Manfred D served as Hanning's chief of staff at the BND and later at the German interior ministry (and as chief of staff for several BND presidents between March 2012 and March 2026), passing information that Hanning used in his private consulting work. Nicknamed "Mr Security," Hanning led the BND from 1998-2005, directing 6,000 agents, working closely with the CIA and MI6, and steering the agency through 9/11, the second Gulf war, and the invasion of Afghanistan. Marc Henrichmann, chairman of the German parliament’s intelligence oversight committee, stated that Germany would not tolerate the betrayal of secrets, and BND President Martin Jäger confirmed the agency initiated comprehensive internal investigations that confirmed the suspicion.

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