West German, Son Accused of Spying for East

A 62-year-old West German man and his 34-year-old son have been jailed on suspicion of spying for Communist East Germany, the federal prosecutor’s office said today.

A second son, who is 25, is suspected of participating in the alleged espionage activity but “his role is believed to be minor” and he is not being held, prosecutor’s spokesman Alexander Prechtel said.

Meanwhile, the weekly Quick magazine reported that two of West Germany’s “best agents” in the East German government leadership had been betrayed by a former West German counterintelligence officer who defected to the East last summer.

Exposed by Counterspy

Quick said the agents, a man and wife, had had “private contact” with East German Communist Party leader Erich Honecker. They were arrested after being exposed by Hans-Joachim Tiedge, the high-ranking West German counterspy who fled to East Germany in late August, according to Quick.

Prechtel refused to identify the father and son, who were arrested Friday on spying charges, saying only that the older man was a white-collar worker employed by a store. He said the two were being held and that an investigation was under way.

The arrests brought to 14 the number of alleged East German spies who either have been arrested in West Germany or defected to East Germany since Aug. 6.

Spy Since 1965

Prechtel said the store employee was a lifelong resident of Heidelberg and had been working for East Germany’s intelligence service since 1965.

He and his elder son supplied taped radio communications of West German “security officials,” including police, to the East Germany state security agency, according to Prechtel.

Prechtel said that last June the elder son, a technician at a construction firm in the Mannheim area, copied a computer tape with “valuable technical know-how” and turned it over to his father, who mailed it to a cover address in East Berlin.

Prechtel added that the father and elder son were not able to provide any state secrets to East Germany and that their activity had “no connection” with the espionage cases of federal government employees last summer.