German authorities have arrested a Chinese national accused of passing information on a major air freight hub to a man who is suspected of spying for China, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The woman, identified only as Yaqi X. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested in the eastern city of Leipzig on Monday, federal prosecutors said in a statement. She is suspected of working for a Chinese intelligence service, providing information on flights, freight including military equipment and passengers.

The suspect works for a company that provides logistical services at sites including the Leipzig/Halle Airport, prosecutors said. The airport handles both passengers and freight but is known principally as a cargo hub.

They alleged that, between August 2023 and mid-February this year, she repeatedly passed information to Jian Guo — a German national who was an aide to far-right European Parliament lawmaker Maximilian Krah and was arrested in April. That, prosecutors said, included above all information on the transport of military equipment and of people with connections to a German defense company, which they didn’t identify.

  • manucode@infosec.pub
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    1 month ago

    she repeatedly passed information to Jian Guo — a German national who was an aide to far-right European Parliament lawmaker Maximilian Krah

    Why is it always the far-right AfD that’s involved in such cases of foreign espionage?

      • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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        1 month ago

        Vaterlandsverräter

        In this case wouldn’t she be a Vaterlandsverräterin?

        Edit: Oh I get it, you’re referring to Maximillian Krah.

    • cmhe@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Because part of the right-wing rise in Europe is caused by foreign influences of authoritarian states like Russia and China in order to destabilize democracies by divide and conquer strategies and to validate their oppressive governments. Higher living standards for normal people in their own or other countries are a threat to their power.

    • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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      1 month ago

      I think you’re suffering from recency bias. Yes right now it seems they’re all related to the AfD but you don’t have to go back very far to find other examples such as Gerhard Schröder.

      There’s always people who will sell out their country for money.