German police have arrested a 33-year-old Ukrainian citizen on suspicion of spying on a weapons manufacturer in Bavaria, in a case authorities say underscores a new dimension of hybrid threats against the country.
The suspect was detained on Sunday in the eastern state of Thuringia and a Munich court issued an arrest warrant on Monday. Investigators believe he photographed the arms production facility in June and transmitted the images to a contact acting on behalf of a foreign intelligence service. He remains in pre-trial detention in a Bavarian prison.
The investigation was coordinated by Germany's newly established joint centre for countering hybrid threats, inaugurated in June. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt warned of an escalating threat landscape, pointing to the separate discovery of an explosive drone at Leipzig airport and suggesting a state actor could be behind it.