'Saddam Spies' Arrested
NewsMax.com Wires
Friday, March 2, 2001
Two Iraqis suspected of spying were last night being held in a German jail after reportedly being caught near United States Army headquarters in Europe.
Their arrests raised fears that Baghdad might be planning to make good on Saddam Hussein's threat earlier this week to retaliate against U.S. and British air strikes that killed two civilians on Feb. 16.
German police and intelligence officers are hunting for other members of a spy ring that is thought to have been cracked.
The two Iraqis were picked up by police on the orders of Germany's chief prosecutor, Kay Nehm. A brief statement from his office said that one of the suspected agents was detained on Sunday and the other on Tuesday.
"They are suspected of carrying out missions for an Iraqi intelligence service in a number of German towns since the beginning of 2001," a statement said.
A federal judge ordered the two men to be held on "urgent suspicion" of espionage.
A spokesman for the federal prosecutors would not comment on a televised report that the Iraqis had been held in the southwestern university town of Heidelberg, which houses the headquarters of the U.S. Army in Europe.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001
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