BERLIN: A British man suspected of spying for Russia in exchange for cash has been arrested in Germany, prosecutors said on Wednesday, in a highly unusual case compared to a Cold War thriller.

Germany has arrested a number of people in recent years accused of spying for Russia, but the capture of a citizen of a Nato ally is exceedingly rare.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Berlin was taking the case “extraordinarily seriously” as the “selection by an intelligence service of a close alliance partner is absolutely unacceptable”. The suspect identified only as David S., who worked as local staff at the British embassy, “on at least one occasion passed on documents he acquired as part of his professional activities to a representative of Russian intelligence”.

“The accused received a cash payment in an unspecified amount in return,” the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

It said David S. was detained on Tuesday in the eastern city of Potsdam on an arrest warrant issued on August 4. His home and place of work were searched and he was remanded in custody by an investigating judge.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2021