Maximilian Krah (left), whose former aide is accused of passing on data to the Chinese language authorities on Tino Chrupalla (heart) and Alice Weidel (proper). Credit: France24
Two individuals, together with a former aide to a member of Germany’s AfD occasion, have been arrested on fees of espionage and accused of working with Chinese language intelligence businesses.
Germany’s federal prosecutor’s workplace has formally pressed fees in opposition to the previous aide of Maximilian Krah, a member of the German parliament representing Alternative für Deutschland, Germany’s far-right occasion. Authorities have additionally arrested a Chinese language nationwide accused of the identical offence.
Three extra individuals have been arrested within the metropolis of Düsseldorf and within the city of Dangerous Homburg, close to Frankfurt, additionally accused of collaborating with Beijing in espionage-related actions.
Extra particularly, German authorities report that these three people have been manipulating analysis tasks to entry details about army expertise, which they then allegedly handed on to Chinese language intelligence providers.
The previous staffer, recognized by the media as “Jian G”, is suspected of illegally accessing greater than 500 paperwork labeled by the European Parliament as “significantly delicate”. The staffer gained entry to those information between 2019 and March 2025, the interval during which his boss Krah was a member of stated legislative physique. G has additionally been accused of gathering data on related AfD figures, together with occasion leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla.
As for the Chinese language citizen arrested for cooperating with G, German information outlet DW studies that she was employed by a logistics firm at Leipzig airport. She was arrested in November 2024 on suspicion of passing on details about flights, freight and passengers to Krah’s former aide.
Maximilian Krah commented on the arrest of his former aide on social media, saying “The one factor I’d accuse myself of within the context of my former colleague of Chinese language heritage will not be having paid extra consideration.”
In response, the Chinese language authorities rejected the espionage claims, calling them “libel”.
