WORLD : Spy Suspect Held in W. Germany
A man caught in possession of secret U.S. military documents has been arrested on suspicion of spying for an Eastern European intelligence service, West German authorities said today.
The Baden-Wuertemberg state public prosecutor said the 35-year-old man, who was not identified, was arrested in a Heidelberg hotel March 26. He was in possession of secret documents from the U.S. military headquarters in Heidelberg, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The suspect, who had a false passport and lived in West Germany and other West European countries, used the name “Dr. Bjorn-Tony Friis-Baastad”--an Austrian who had nothing to do with the case, authorities said. He was said to have worked for an unspecified Eastern European intelligence service.
The prosecutor said the man posed as a traveling salesman for a Danish clothing firm and sought out students and workers at U.S. military installations.
He was particularly interested in NATO disarmament, the prosecutor’s office said.
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