August Hanning, 80, president of Germany’s BND foreign intelligence service from 1998 to 2005, has been arrested on suspicion of espionage and treason. Federal police detained him on Oct. 6 at his home in Nordwalde near Münster, and an investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice ordered him held in custody.
Federal prosecutors cited strong suspicion of treasonous espionage, obtaining state secrets, attempted treason and working as an agent for a foreign intelligence service. His former BND office chief, Manfred D., was also arrested.
Around 2,000 documents
Prosecutors say that in spring 2010 Hanning, by then a private consultant, agreed to pay Manfred D. for a regular supply of information. Manfred D., who ran the private office of several BND presidents from 2012 to 2026, allegedly passed him about 2,000 documents up to June 2022, including top-secret reports for weekly Chancellery intelligence briefings and assessments on Iran’s nuclear program and the Russian military.
Traced back to a kidnapping case
The case came to light through a Hamburg investigation into the New Year’s Eve 2023–24 abduction of heiress Christina Block’s children from Denmark. Hamburg prosecutors allege Hanning connected Block with an Israeli private intelligence firm and was paid more than 100,000 euros. According to Israeli media, he approached former Mossad chief Danny Yatom and former Shin Bet chief Yaakov Peri; Yatom denied involvement and the firm rejected the claims. A September 2025 search of Hanning’s home turned up a data carrier with classified BND files.
Prosecutors have not named the country that benefited. German media say it was not Russia, while Der Spiegel reported suspicions that documents went to an Azerbaijani intelligence officer and that investigators are also examining a possible China link. If convicted of treason, Hanning faces life in prison.
