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Germany's Federal Prosecutor's Office said August Hanning, the former head of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), has been remanded in custody on suspicion of espionage. Hanning, who led the BND from 1998 to 2005, and a German national identified as Manfred D. were detained and brought before judges, with arrest warrants on treason-level espionage charges carried out.

Prosecutors allege that Manfred D. provided Hanning with around 2,000 documents, many of them classified, up to June 2022. Hanning is accused of drawing on that material to prepare an analysis for an employee of another intelligence agency and of maintaining close contact with a member of a foreign intelligence service, to whom he is said to have passed political information over a period of years. The charges include treason-level espionage, obtaining state secrets and attempted treason.

The case stems from a Hamburg prosecution investigation launched in September 2025 into businesswoman Christina Block and other suspects, during which documents were seized in a search of Hanning's home. The probe was transferred early this year to the Federal Prosecutor's Office. Separately, Hanning faces a Hamburg state court trial over the alleged attempted abduction of two children of the Block family in 2024, linked to an Israeli security firm whose board he sat on.

Key Takeaways

• Former BND chief August Hanning was remanded in custody on treason-level espionage charges
• Investigators allege he received about 2,000 documents, many classified, from Manfred D. through June 2022
• Hanning also faces a Hamburg trial over the alleged attempted abduction of two children in 2024