Former BND chief August Hanning arrested in espionage investigation
German federal prosecutors announced on 7 October that August Hanning and Manfred D. had been remanded in custody. The investigation concerns almost two thousand documents from the foreign intelligence service BND.
Former BND president August Hanning and his former colleague Manfred D. were arrested on 6 October 2026 in a federal espionage investigation. A Federal Court of Justice investigating judge ordered execution of their arrest warrants on 6 and 7 October, prosecutors said. Hanning is suspected of offences including gathering state secrets, attempted treason and intelligence activity for a foreign service. D. is suspected of aiding some of these offences.
Prosecutors allege that around spring 2010 the men agreed D. would supply Hanning with BND intelligence for payment, for use in his private consultancy. D. allegedly supplied almost two thousand internal documents, including classified material, up to June 2022. Hanning led the BND from December 1998 to November 2005. D. later again served as office chief to successive BND presidents.
Prosecutors said Hanning used secret information to prepare an analysis for an employee of a foreign security service; whether it reached its recipient had not been established. He allegedly also supplied political information over several years to an employee of another state intelligence service. The investigation arose from material found during a September 2025 search in the Hamburg investigation concerning Christina Block. Federal prosecutors received the file in early May 2026.









































