Nato civilian accused of spying at Ramstein base

Published on 08/08/2012 00:00

A CIVILIAN employee of Nato has been arrested in Germany on suspicion of spying at the giant US air base at Ramstein as part of a terrorist plot.

The 60-year-old suspect, identified only as German citizen Manfred K, is behind bars on the orders of Germany’s federal prosecutor as the inquiry into his activities continues.

He was arrested at the base on Monday. “He is strongly suspected to have accessed state secret material,” said the prosecutor. Material, it is alleged, was transferred from the base computers to his home laptop.

“There is the suspicion that this was in order to pass on the obtained data to unauthorised third parties”, said the arrest warrant issued for him. It is understood the material included information on aircraft and weapons stockpiles at the base, where more than 16,000 Americans are employed.

His home computer was also seized and a number of files taken away from his flat in Kaiserslautern, some ten miles from the base, which has endured several terrorist attack alerts in the past five years. He appeared briefly in court on Monday and was remanded in custody.

Ramstein is the biggest US air base in Europe and a major hub for Afghan operations.