Nocturnal 
Germany’s former top spy has been arrested on suspicion of treason and espionage, in what’s being called one of the country’s biggest intelligence scandals since the Cold War.
August Hanning, 80, who led the BND foreign intelligence service from 1998 to 2005, was detained at his home in Nordwalde near Münster early on Tuesday, according to the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office. He is due before a judge at the Federal Court of Justice on Wednesday.
A former BND employee, named only as Manfred D. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested at the same time in Bavaria. Properties linked to both men, including addresses in Berlin, were searched.
Prosecutors allege that Manfred D., who served as Hanning’s chief of staff and later held the same role for several of his successors until March 2026, supplied Hanning with around 2,000 documents over roughly a dozen years, many containing classified material meant solely for internal BND use. He is charged with aiding and abetting attempted treason and treasonous espionage “in exchange for remuneration”, prosecutors said.
Hanning is accused of using that material to draft an analysis for an officer of a foreign intelligence service, though prosecutors said it was unclear whether “the material reached the intended recipient”. He is also accused of maintaining contact “for several years” with a representative of another foreign spy agency, passing on political information partly sourced from Manfred D.’s documents. Investigators have not named either foreign power, and Süddeutsche Zeitung reported the case does not involve Russia. Spiegel reported a possible link to an Azerbaijani agent, but prosecutors have declined to comment and this remains unconfirmed.
Local media say the alleged leak first surfaced during a separate investigation into German businesswoman Christina Block, who has been accused by Hamburg prosecutors of orchestrating the kidnapping of her two youngest children in a 2023 custody dispute. Hanning has reportedly been linked to an earlier attempted kidnapping of the children, which he denies. A data storage device containing sensitive BND material, including recent documents, was reportedly found during that probe.
Why it matters
A former head of the BND being arrested for allegedly selling state secrets is unprecedented, and Politico reports a senior security lawmaker has warned it could damage Germany’s intelligence relationships with allied countries. The BND has faced repeated infiltration scandals: in 2023, former department head Carsten L. was charged with treason over allegations he passed intelligence on Ukraine and the Wagner mercenary group to Russia in exchange for around €400,000, a case still before the courts.
The timing is especially awkward. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government is currently pushing to hand the BND significantly expanded powers, including greater scope for sabotage, offensive cyber operations and more aggressive espionage aimed at countering Moscow. A scandal of this scale raises uncomfortable questions about how such an alleged breach could have continued for more than a decade without being detected.
What happens next
Hanning appears before a judge on Wednesday, with Manfred D. having already appeared this week. Neither Hanning nor the German chancellery has commented publicly. Key details remain unresolved, including which foreign intelligence services were allegedly involved and whether the leaked analysis ever reached its intended recipient. The investigation is ongoing, and further charges or developments are expected as prosecutors continue examining the roughly 2,000 documents at the centre of the case.
