The fall of Germany’s ex-spymaster – podcast

The fall of Germany’s ex-spymaster – podcastA former head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service has been accused of selling classified documents. Kate Connolly reports on the fallout

Just before 9am last Tuesday morning, police swarmed a red brick house in Nordwalde, close to the Dutch border in western Germany. It looked like a terror operation, with masked officers entering the property en masse.

But when they emerged with their suspect, he wasn’t even handcuffed. Perhaps it was his age. Or maybe his reputation. Because the white-haired 80-year-old being taken into custody was August Hanning, the former head of Germany’s spy agency, the BND.

The arrest may have been genteel but his alleged crimes could barely be more serious: espionage, treason, selling thousands of classified documents to foreign powers.

The Guardian’s Berlin correspondent, Kate Connolly, watched with the rest of Germany as the drama unfolded. “It was pretty seismic,” she explains. “And coming as it does – at a time of massive pressure in global affairs, sabotage attacks by Russia on Germany – adds to the weight and the seriousness.”

Hanning denies all the allegations. But what, asks Helen Pidd, will be damage to the reputation of the intelligence agencies of such a high-profile scandal?