Polizei-News Karlsruhe, 06.10.26: Arrest wegen Verdachts auf Landesverrat und Spionage

Die Polizei informiert über ein aktuelles Vergehen in Karlsruhe. Was ist bisher bekannt?

Erstellt von Team Datenjournalismus - 06.10.2026, 11.03 Uhr

Today (6 October 2026), the Federal Prosecutor's Office had agents of the Federal Criminal Police Office arrest the German nationals

Dr. August Hanning

and Manfred D.

in Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen County (Bavaria) and Steinfurt County (North Rhine-Westphalia) in execution of arrest warrants issued by the Investigating Judge at the Federal Court of Justice. In addition, premises of the suspects are being searched there and in Berlin.

Hanning is strongly suspected of treasonous espionage (section 96 para. 1 of the German Criminal Code [StGB]), spying out state secrets (section 96 para. 2 StGB), attempted treason (section 94 para. 1, section 22 StGB), and espionage (section 99 para. 1 no. 1 StGB). Manfred D. is charged with aiding and abetting attempted treason and treasonous espionage (section 94 para. 1, para. 2 no.1, section 96 para. 1, section 27 StGB).

In essence, the arrest warrants set out the following allegations:

From December 1998 until the end of November 2005, the suspect Hanning served as the President of the Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst). At the time, the suspect Manfred D. was his chief of staff. He went on to become his parliamentary assistant during Hanning's tenure as State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior between December 2005 and November 2009. From March 2012 until March 2026, Manfred D. once again served as chief of staff for several subsequent Presidents of the Federal Intelligence Service. In his role, he had access to confidential information.

Both suspects are believed to have agreed, in the spring of 2010, to have Manfred D. continuously transmit valuable intelligence from the Federal Intelligence Service to Hanning in exchange for remuneration. Hanning was to capitalise on said information in the context of his private consulting services, which he had since been offering. The current findings suggest that, over the years, Manfred D. provided Hanning with approximately two thousand documents, many of which contained classified information to be used exclusively by the Federal Intelligence Service for internal purposes, particularly for executive intelligence briefings. Said briefings are regular meetings of senior officials of federal ministries and different German security agencies at the Federal Chancellery. On one occasion, Hanning used classified intelligence provided by Manfred D. to draft an analysis for an officer of a foreign intelligence service. It has yet to be determined if the material reached the intended recipient. Moreover, Hanning was in close contact with a representative of another foreign intelligence service, to whom he passed on political information, partially based on material provided by Manfred D., for several years.

The proceedings were launched following a search of Hanning's premises by the Prosecutor's Office in Hamburg in the context of an investigation against Christina Block et alia in September 2025. In early May 2026, the Federal Prosecutor's Office was entrusted with the investigation, which has been conducted in collaboration with the Federal Intelligence Service and the Federal Criminal Police Office.

The suspects will be brought before the Investigating Judge at the Federal Court of Justice today. The Investigating Judge will then formally inform the suspects of the charges and decide on the enforcement of pre-trial detention.

+++ Redaktioneller Hinweis: Dieser Artikel basiert auf einer Meldung des Der Generalbundesanwalt vom 06.10.2026 gegen 10:25 Uhr. Die Originalmeldung aus dem Blaulichtreport des Presseportals finden Sie hier. Um Sie schnellstmöglich zu informieren, werden diese Texte datengetrieben aktualisiert und stichprobenartig kontrolliert. Bei Anmerkungen oder Rückfragen wenden Sie sich bitte an hinweis@news.de. +++

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Polizei-News Karlsruhe, 06.10.26: Arrest wegen Verdachts auf Landesverrat und Spionage

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