2 arrested in Germany on charges of espionage in Kosovo

AP ^ | March 19, 2009 | DAVID RISING

[Tailgunner Joe]

Two men have been charged with espionage for allegedly feeding classified German government information to organized crime and foreign intelligence contacts in Macedonia and Kosovo, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Anton Robert K., a 42-year-old German, allegedly passed along information while working at the German diplomatic mission in the Kosovo capital Pristina to Murat A., a 28-year-old Macedonian with ties to organized crime and "foreign intelligence," prosecutors said in a statement.

Both men, whose full names were not given, were arrested earlier this month in the Stuttgart area and indicted on the charges Tuesday before a federal judge, prosecutors said. Anton Robert K. faces a possible 10 years in prison if convicted on charges of betrayal of state secrets, while Murat A. faces a possible 5 years if convicted of receiving state secrets.

Anton Robert K. worked in the German mission in 2007 and 2008 and Murat A. was employed as his translator, prosecutors said. In the course of his work, the German man had access to "sensitive information" that he passed along to Murat A. despite knowing that he had contacts with organized crime in both Kosovo and Macedonia, prosecutors said.

Murat A. is alleged to have then fed the information to "people linked with organized crime, or foreign intelligence agencies," prosecutors said.