Germany arrests woman for passing defense info to China via EU lawmaker’s aide

German authorities arrested a woman Tuesday, accusing her of passing information to Beijing’s secret service through an agent working for a far-right lawmaker in the European Parliament.

The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office said Yaqi X. worked for a logistics company at Leipzig/Halle airport and repeatedly gave information about flights, cargo and passengers to an employee of the Chinese secret service — Jian G. — from mid-August 2023 until mid-February 2024.

“This included, in particular, information on the transportation of defense equipment and persons with connections to a German defense company,” the statement from the prosecutor’s office said.

“The accused is strongly suspected of acting as an intelligence agent for a Chinese secret service,” it added.

In addition to the arrest, authorities conducted searches at the home and workplace of the woman, who remains in custody.

Jian G. was arrested in April this year after German authorities identified him as a Chinese agent while he was working as an assistant in the office of Maximilian Krah, a member of the European Parliament from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Krah hired Jian G. as an assistant in the European Parliament in 2019 and, according to German authorities, he allegedly passed information from the European Parliament to Chinese intelligence.

Krah was the AfD’s lead candidate in this year’s European election but, after the bombshell arrest in April, he was expelled from the delegation — though was then reelected for another term as the party couldn’t take him off the ticket. 

The AfD itself was also kicked out of the Identity and Democracy group — which eventually evolved into the Patriots for Europe faction — and after the election the AfD formed a new far-right grouping, Europe of Sovereign Nations.