Former BND chief arrested over alleged transfer of classified information

German authorities have arrested August Hanning, the former head of the BND foreign intelligence agency, on suspicion of espionage, attempted treason and other offences involving state secrets, the federal prosecutor’s office said Tuesday. Hanning, 80, was taken into custody at his home in Nordwalde near Münster, according to reporting by WDR, NDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung. A second former senior BND employee was also arrested.

Identified by German media as Manfred D. in accordance with privacy rules, he is accused of aiding and abetting attempted treason and espionage. Prosecutors said searches were under way at both men’s properties and at locations in Berlin.

The alleged conduct concerns the handling of classified material after Hanning left the intelligence service. He headed the BND from December 1998 until November 2005, then became a state secretary at the Federal Interior Ministry, where he worked until 2009. According to the prosecutor’s office, Hanning and Manfred D.

are believed to have established their arrangement in 2010. Manfred D. allegedly supplied Hanning with roughly 2,000 documents over subsequent years, many of them classified and intended for internal BND use.

Prosecutors say the material was provided in exchange for payment. The statement said Manfred D. retained access to sensitive information because he served as chief of staff to Hanning’s successors at the BND from 2012 until March 2026.

It alleges that he continued passing information to Hanning until at least the middle of 2022, while Hanning used it in private consulting work. Ines Peterson, a spokesperson for the federal prosecutor’s office, told RTL that investigators suspect Hanning used classified information in one case to prepare an analysis for an employee of a foreign intelligence service. Prosecutors also allege that he maintained close contact for years with a representative of another foreign intelligence service and passed on political information, some of it based on material supplied by Manfred D.

The authorities have not named either foreign service, and the reports do not establish that the allegations have been tested in court. Hanning and Manfred D. were expected to appear before investigating judges on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to DW.

The arrests come as Germany is seeking to expand the powers of its intelligence agencies, France 24 reported, adding that the case is embarrassing for the country. DW political editor Michaela Küfner described it at a government briefing as Germany’s “biggest espionage scandal of the century”, while that characterization was not presented as an official finding. Marc Henrichmann, chair of the Bundestag’s intelligence oversight committee, said Germany would not tolerate the betrayal of secrets.

Opposition lawmaker Konstantin von Notz called the allegations deeply troubling and urged a swift, thorough investigation. The prosecutor’s office has charged the men with suspected offences; the reports provide no account of a response from Hanning or Manfred D.