Agency Report –
A Danish man accused of spying on Jewish institutions and people in Germany on behalf of Iran has been detained in Denmark, German prosecutors said on Tuesday.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office, based in the western Germany city of Karlsruhe, said the man is suspected of having acted for Iranian intelligence services.
He was held by Danish authorities in Aarhus, the country’s second-largest city, and is set to be extradited to Germany.
He allegedly received orders to gather information on Jewish venues and certain Jewish people, prosecutors said. The man is then said to have spied on three targets in June.
“This presumably served to prepare further secret service operations in Germany, possibly including attacks against Jewish targets,” the prosecutors added.
The Spiegel news magazine reported that an elite unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is said to have given orders to prepare possible attacks in Berlin.
The detained man is said to have Afghan roots. According to the report, he took photos of houses, including the headquarters of the German-Israeli Society in the German capital.
Germany stepped up measures to protect Israeli and Jewish institutions earlier this month after Israel attacked Iran on June 13, citing the threat from Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Iran has consistently denied planning to build a nuclear weapon. A ceasefire is now in place.
