Displaying items by tag: Espionage

Linda Sun, a former senior aide to two New York governors, has been charged with acting as a secret agent for the Chinese government. She and her husband face multiple charges including visa fraud, alien smuggling, and money laundering. Both have pleaded not guilty and are out on bail. Sun allegedly used her political position to further Chinese interests, blocking Taiwanese representatives from meetings and altering official messaging to favour China, especially during the Covid pandemic. She ensured public praise for China’s ventilator shipments while blocking an effort by Taiwan to get a public acknowledgement for giving masks. Authorities claim she facilitated millions in business deals for her husband’s Chinese-connected company, which funded their luxurious lifestyle. China’s embassy dismissed the charges, pointing out that previous cases against alleged Chinese agents have collapsed. There are growing tensions between the two countries over espionage claims.

Two alleged spies, dual German-Russian nationals, have been arrested in Bavaria for suspected espionage related to sabotaging German military aid for Ukraine. The main suspect, Dieter S, is accused of various offences, including maintaining contact with Russian intelligence, and fighting for a Russian proxy force in eastern Ukraine. Allegedly, he was planning sabotage operations such as explosive and arson attacks on military and industrial infrastructure, including US military facilities. Germany is the second-largest donor of military aid to Ukraine after the USA. The arrests mark another blow against Russian espionage efforts in Germany. Meanwhile, in what is being called Austria’s biggest espionage scandal in decades, Egisto Ott has been arrested on suspicion of spying. He is believed to have been recruited, along with other officials, by Jan Marsalek, who fled to Moscow in 2020. See

British lawmakers warn that imported technology embedded in Chinese electric vehicles could be used to harvest information on drivers. With China leading the global EV market, cheaper Chinese vehicles are expected to dominate UK automotive sales. A cross-party group of MPs have expressed concern to the government that Britain is on the verge of handing control of critical infrastructure to Beijing, with all of the ‘associated security risks.’ An unnamed senior government official said that if it is manufactured in China, how certain can you be that it won’t be a vehicle for collecting intel and data? Why have electric vehicles manufactured by countries that already spy using technology? Why wouldn’t they do the same here? The UK already suspects China’s technology imports are a security risk and barred Huawei from the 5G network in 2020, ordering all equipment and services to be removed by the end of 2023.

Norway’s foreign ministry has said it has decided to expel fifteen Russian embassy officials in Oslo, claiming that they were intelligence officers operating under the cover of diplomatic positions. In a statement, the ministry said: ‘The government’s decision is in response to the changed security situation in Europe, which has led to an increased intelligence threat from Russia. The officers must leave Norway shortly.’. Norway’s foreign minister, Anniken Huitfeldt, said: ‘This is an important step in countering, and reducing the level of, Russian intelligence activity in Norway, and thus in safeguarding our national interests.’ Russia’s foreign ministry said it would respond to Norway’s expulsion of its diplomats, according to state media.

Investigative journalists who explored Russian influence on US politics say Britain’s political system is also compromised, stating that it is time our institutions and media woke up to that fact. In 2016 the UK and US were targets of Russian efforts to swing votes to weaken the alliances that had constrained Putin’s ambitions for the EU and Nato. Many believe Conservative-leaning media in the UK and US see little mileage in exposing meddling that helped their own side. The Mueller report found that Russia engaged in a sweeping and systematic campaign to elect Trump. Britain’s official response to meddling accusations was largely denial. Consumed by bitter Brexit divisions and public spending, it took longer than it should have for parliament to conduct an investigation of Russian penetration of British politics. Their findings are suppressed until after the election. Meanwhile UK media has started to look into these issues, shedding light on the actions of Russian-backed groups.

On 24 July Shin Bet (the Israeli security agency) reported that Iran has been trying to recruit a wide network of agents in Israel via social networking sites. A joint Shin Bet / police / IDF statement said that their counter-terrorism operation has ‘foiled a recruiting network across Israel and the West Bank for the benefit of Iranian intelligence’. The recruits were asked to gather information on military bases, sensitive security installations, personnel, police stations, hospitals, and more intended targets for terrorist attacks by Iran. While the network was directed by Iran, it operated from Syria and was led by an individual known as Abu-Jihad, who contacted people by creating fictitious Facebook profiles and then speaking with them through messaging applications. In recent months, several other similar operations by Hezbollah and Hamas have been foiled by Israeli security agencies.

An Iranian woman has been sentenced to ten years in prison in Iran for spying for the UK. A spokesman, Gholam Hossein Esmaili, said the woman had been ‘in charge of the Iran desk’ of the British Council. The British Council seeks to foster cultural relations and educational opportunities in many countries worldwide, but does not have offices or representatives in Iran. It knew that one of its staff had been detained while making a private family visit. Mr Esmaili said she ‘confessed’ to ‘co-operating’ with British intelligence. She is accused of ‘acting against national security’ - a charge laid against a range of activists, journalists, dual citizens and foreign nationals detained in recent years. A London-based British Council employee and art student, Aras Amiri, who was detained in March 2018, is thought to be the jailed person.

16 April was pastor Andrew Brunson’s first day in court answering espionage charges. He pastors a small Protestant church, and is accused of supporting the attempted 2016 coup to overthrow president Erdogan by aligning himself with terrorist organisations. If convicted, the 50-year-old faces 35 years in prison. ‘I was never involved in any illegal activities,’ the American Pastor told the court in Turkish, the language he speaks fluently after 23 years in the country. After the hearing, instead of being returned to the prison he had recently been held in, he was taken to an overcrowded, extremely grim prison. The USA said prosecutors have no case against the pastor. He is accused of ‘the supposed crime of Christianisation’. Brunson’s Turkish lawyer told Reuters that prosecutors interpret the pastor’s religious work as ‘aiding terror organisations; there is evidence revealing that he was arrested due to his faith.’

Counterterrorism detectives have taken charge of an inquiry into the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a Russian double agent, and his daughter Yulia. They collapsed in Salisbury, and remain in a critical condition in intensive care. Many fear it is a Kremlin-sponsored assassination attempt. On 7 March Boris Johnson said that Britain would respond ‘robustly’ if evidence of Russian state responsibility emerged. Meanwhile theories across the internet range from a vote-winning ploy two weeks before the Russian presidential elections to warning other Russian operatives of the risks when working with foreign intelligence agencies. Conspirators and traitors are rife in Russia. Last January, two Russian cybersecurity officials were arrested for aiding the CIA. Modern Russian spies are no longer lured by ideological reasons; it is more a case of western agencies providing financial incentives.

(Updating last week’s Prayer Alert article) On Sunday Judge Osama Ahmed Abdulla found Czech national Petr Jašek guilty of espionage. He was sentenced to life imprisonment plus a further three and a half years and a fine of 100,000 Sudanese pounds (approx. £12,000). Rev’d Abduraheem and Mr Abdumawla were sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment for espionage and a further two years for inciting hatred between sects and for propagation of false news. Lawyers representing the men intend to appeal the verdict and sentences. Joel Edwards of Christian Solidarity Worldwide said, ‘We are profoundly dismayed by this verdict. The serious charges against these men were wholly unwarranted and the excessive sentences unjustified, given the paucity of evidence against them. These men are not spies; they were simply driven by compassion to source finance for the treatment of a man with severe injuries. We call for the annulment of the verdict and the immediate release of these three men.’