Former head of Germany's spy agency arrested on suspicion of passing secrets to Azerbaijan

August Hanning, 80, was arrested early Tuesday morning at his house in Nordwalde near Münster by officials from the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), Germany’s federal criminal police office.

Hanning led Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, known as the BND, from 1998 until 2005. German prosecutors said he had been arrested on suspicion of espionage and treason.

Manfred D., Hanning’s former office manager at the BND, was arrested the same morning in Geretsried, in the Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district of Upper Bavaria. He worked for the agency until spring 2026.

The Generalbundesanwalt is investigating Hanning on suspicion of treasonous espionage, disclosure of state secrets, attempted treason and intelligence agent activity. No charges against Hanning have been confirmed.

The case centres on allegations that classified material continued to flow out of the BND after Hanning left the service in November 2005. WDR, NDR and Süddeutscher Zeitung reported that Manfred D. had supplied Hanning with secret documents for money since then.

Investigators allege that around 2,000 classified documents came from the BND’s Berlin headquarters, including material as recent as spring 2022.

The documents allegedly included highly sensitive situation assessments, classified material from foreign partner services, and papers on the Iranian nuclear program and Russian military.

Hanning is alleged to have used classified documents to prepare a written analysis for an employee of a foreign intelligence and security apparatus. Der Spiegel reported on Tuesday evening that he was suspected of gathering information for Azerbaijan, and that an Azerbaijani intelligence operative had commissioned classified information from him.

Prosecutors suspect Hanning sought to pass classified information to a foreign country’s intelligence service. Investigators are examining whether a security analysis he prepared, using classified information obtained from a senior BND official, ultimately reached the Azerbaijani operative.

Hanning sat on the board of the German-Azerbaijani Forum as of July 2025. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

The German government and associated security bodies have yet to make a detailed public statement on the specific claims, citing the sensitive nature of the continuing investigation.