Report: Egypt Spies Alerted Israel to German Dolphin Submarine Buy, Russian Contract to Upgrade Tanks

Leaked confessions from a pair of Egyptians accused of spying for Israel on Thursday allegedly revealed that the most serious intelligence delivered was a report in 2010 that Egypt was buying four German Dolphin submarines and signing a contract with Russia to upgrade 35 tanks, according to Egypt’s Al-Masry Al-Youm.
 

According to the newspaper, which claimed to have access to signed confessions, the intelligence reports submitted to Israel  also described military exercises by the Egyptian army, the military council at the time of the revolution, and the popularity of religious movements. The reports were sent via an encrypted laptop that the Israeli intelligence had provided and the accused agents were paid €500 ($685) per report.
 

The two alleged spies, Ramzi Ahmed al-Shebini and Sahar Salama, on Monday were referred to a criminal court, along with unnamed Israeli Mossad agents, who would be tried in absentia.
 

In the confession, al-Shebini said he repeatedly approached Israeli embassy officials in Rome to offer his services as a spy, but was rebuffed. When the Israelis finally relented, al-Shebini said he was trained by collecting information about certain churches, universities and hotels in Italy.

 

 

He recruited Salama who works for a newspaper of the armed forces. After six months, Israel accepted her as part of this espionage team and provided the pair with a bag to hide secret reports. Salama’s first reports were about Army celebrations at the military academy’s graduations and on the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War in 2009. She was then assigned to monitor army clubs and hotels, certain military industrial and agricultural projects, and military recruitment procedures.
 

In total, nine suspects, three Egyptians and six Israeli Mossad officers, were fingered in the spy ring, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm  earlier in February. Charges include transferring information about armed forces deployment, headquarters, security ambushes, infiltrators, jihadists and the Rafah border crossing in Sinai that could harm national interests, the report said.

 

Two ex-military officers charged as spies for China, passing on submarine secret

wo retired military personnel yesterday were indicted for allegedly serving as Chinese spies, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office announced yesterday.

The two, surnamed Chien (錢) and Lu (盧), were found attempting to collect information for Chinese government from military personnel they knew, said in the indictment.

The prosecutors indicted the two under charges of violating the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪汙治罪條例),

Lu, who previously served at the Air Defense Missile Command until his retirement in 2005, was recruited by Chinese intelligence agents in China's Xiamen City, when he was doing business there, the indictment said.

Lu successfully persuaded Chien, a former Navy officer discharged in 2009, to join him in his alleged espionage activity after paying the latter US$1,000 and 2,000 yuan.

The two later offered Chang Chih-hsin (張祉鑫), a former manager at the Naval Meteorological & Oceanographic Office (METOC) and Chang's wife, a free trip to Cebu in the Philippines in an attempt to recruit Chang.

They also paid Chang US$2,000 in exchange for his service in recruiting more current and former military personnel to pass military secrets to Beijing, the indictment said.

The METOC is responsible for mapping the maritime areas surrounding Taiwan.

Chang is now facing charges for passing confidential nautical charts that show maritime areas and adjacent coastal regions of Taiwan waters and related information on Taiwan's submarine project to the Chinese mainland.

Retired Taiwan naval officer arrested on suspicion of spying for China

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry says a retired naval officer has been arrested on suspicion of spying for China.

A statement released by the ministry on Monday says Chinese intelligence made contact with Cmdr. Chang Chih-hsin through unidentified Taiwanese intermediaries.

he ministry denies media reports that Chang had leaked secretive submarine nautical charts or war plans to the Chinese.

The ministry says it was tipped off by informers. Authorities say they had investigated him even before his retirement, which newspaper reports say was in August.

Taiwan and China have spied on each other since the sides split amid civil war in 1949. Their espionage efforts have continued despite a marked decrease in tensions between them during the 4 ½-year administration of Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou.

Ex-intel chiefs asked to testify in coup case

A court in Istanbul registers a first by summoning two former spy chiefs to testify as witnesses in the ongoing Ergenekon case into an alleged coup plot.

Call on Intel chiefs, Koman to testify in an alleged coup case marks a first.

An Istanbul court has ordered two former intelligence chiefs, Teoman Koman and Şenkal Atasagun, to testify as witnesses in the ongoing Ergenekon probe, a first in Turkey’s recent political history.

The move comes following a crisis earlier this year in which judges attempted to obtain testimony from National Intelligence Organization (MİT) head Hakan Fidan over talks with Kurdish militants, but the plan was scuttled by a law requiring the premier’s consent before any such summons. Such consent is not necessary in the present case, Turkish Prime Ministry officials said.

Both Koman and Atasagun have served as head of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), and both are believed to have substantial knowledge about the alleged Ergenekon gang, which is accused of trying to topple the government in 2003 and 2004.

Istanbul’s 13th Court for Serious Crimes summoned Koman and Atasagun, as well as two deputies, Şirin Ünal of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Emrehan Halıcı of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), journalist Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, energy expert Faruk Demir and former police chief Ahmet İhtiyaroğlu, the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday. What makes the court’s summons important is that it constitutes the first time two former intelligence officials have been called as witnesses.

No need for PM’s consent

Hundreds of retired and on-duty military personnel, prominent academics, journalists and civil society activists are being prosecuted for their alleged links with the Ergenekon gang, which allegedly sought to force the AKP government out of power due to concerns about its Islamist background. The Ergenekon case has become the most important case in the country, alongside the “Balyoz” (Sledgehammer) case, in which those believed to be responsible for an attempted coup are being tried for the first time in Turkey, which has seen three full and one partial coup in its history.

According to the Ergenekon indictment, MİT under Atasagun’s leadership was informed of the existence of the organizations called Ergenekon and Lobby by anonymous sources in July 2002, nearly six months before the AKP came into power. However, Atasagun preferred to keep the information at the MİT until July of the next year, during the early months of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s tenure. It is known that Atasagun shared this information with former Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Özkök on July 10, 2003, and with Erdoğan on Nov. 19, 2003. It is believed that the judges in the Ergenekon case will want to ask Atasagun why he did not share this intelligence immediately after receiving it.

Koman, however, served as MİT chief between 1988 and 1992, well before the establishment of the Ergenekon organization. He was arrested and later released early this year for his alleged involvement in the Feb. 28, 2007, process or “post-modern coup,” in which the army forced the elected Islamist Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan from office. Koman served as Gendarmerie Forces Commander between 1995 and 1997, and is believed to have played key role in the Feb. 28 process. Koman earlier rejected an invitation from a parliamentary panel to share information regarding past coup attempts.

Chief of staff at the Turkish navy arrested in probe on army spying

Chief of staff at the Turkish navy vice admiral Veysel Kösele arrested as part of a military espionage probe.

Today, vice admiral Kösele and some other admirals had arrived at an İzmir prosecutor’s office to testify in an ongoing army spying case.

After questioning, prosecutor directed Admiral Kösele an one lieutenant to a court requesting they arrest. The court ordered vice admiral Kösele and lieutenant arrest.

The investigation against the espionage gang started in 2009 after allegations arose that the gang reportedly targeted active-duty officers with knowledge of details about warcraft radar location. The suspects are also charged with listening to private phone conversations and spying on some officer’s bedrooms through cameras and blackmailing them. In the operation, 93 people including 59 active-duty-soldiers have already been detained. The suspects are also charged with sending escort girls to the officer’s homes.

NATO spy arrested by German police

German police have arrested a civilian employee of NATO on suspicion of espionage at the U.S. air base at Ramstein, federal prosecutors said yesterday.

The prosecutor’s office in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe said the 60-year-old German national identified only as Manfred K. was believed to have stolen “state secrets” for unidentified “third parties.”

“He is believed to have illegally acquired, as a NATO civilian employee, classified data belonging to his employer at the U.S. armed forces’ air base at Ramstein and to have copied it onto his personal computer,” it said in a statement, according to Agence France-Presse. “It is suspected that this was done with the intention of passing the obtained data on to unauthorised third parties.”

A judge ordered the suspect remanded in pre-trial detention on Aug. 6 and the state criminal investigations office in Rhineland-Palatinate will supervise the ongoing probe, it added. The prosecutor’s office declined to provide further details on who may have sought the data or how sensitive the files were.

Germany - Officials: Detained Syrian wanted German intel job

Prosecutors say a suspected Syrian spy who was arrested in Germany earlier this year once tried to infiltrate the country’s intelligence services.

The German federal prosecutors’ office says the 35-year-old man was an unofficial employee of Syria’s embassy in Berlin when he applied in late 2010 for a post with Germany’s Interior Ministry.

Prosecutors said in a statement Tuesday that the man, identified only as Syrian national Akram O., sought work with the domestic intelligence agency or electronic surveillance office - both overseen by the ministry - but was turned down.

Authorities indicted him last week on suspicion of spying on Syrian opposition activists in Germany.

Prosecutors have yet to indict a second man, German-Lebanese dual national Mahmoud El A., who was arrested along with Akram O. in February.

U.S. man pleads guilty to exporting missile parts to Iran

Prosecutors say an accomplice contacted 42-year-old Andro Telemi in 2009 and asked for his help buying and exporting 10 connector adapters used in an Iranian missile system.

This July 3, 2012 file photo released by the Iranian Fars News Agency, a surface-to-surface missile is launched during the Iranian Revolutionary Guards maneuver in an undisclosed location.

A California man pleaded guilty on Thursday to seeking to export missile parts to Iran via the United Arab Emirates.

Andro Telemi changed his plea to guilty Thursday in Chicago federal court.

Prosecutors say an accomplice contacted the 42-year-old Telemi in 2009 and asked for his help buying and exporting 10 connector adapters used in an Iranian missile system.

Telemi allegedly negotiated a purchase for $9,500 from an Illinois company that was part of a sting.

The naturalized U.S.citizen from Iran will be sentenced Oct. 30. He faces up to 20 years in prison for one count of attempting to export defense articles without a license or approval.

There was no immediate response to a telephone message and email seeking comment from Telemi's attorney.