Berlin plays down security gaps after ‘Islamist’ agent arrest

The German government Wednesday denied security flaws at its domestic spy service after an agent was unmasked as a suspected Islamist and media labelled him a former gay porn actor.
The interior ministry rejected calls for a procedural overhaul at Germany’s internal security watchdog, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), where the 51-year-old had worked.
“We currently have no indication that there are fundamental structural problems,” said a ministry spokesman, noting that the BfV itself had helped expose what he called an isolated case.
“Based on the facts we have, it is too soon to make specific recommendations for action that might arise from this case.”
The agency said Tuesday that the unidentified German national, who had converted to Islam in 2014, had “made Islamist remarks online under a false name, and had offered internal information during online chats” about the service.
The suspect, reportedly of Spanish origin, was caught and arrested on November 17 because his chat partner was also an employee of the domestic intelligence service.
There was no immediate suggestion that the suspect had ties to the radical Islamic State group.
Prosecutors are readying a case alleging he was “preparing a serious act threatening state security”. They said the suspect had already made a partial confession.
Germany’s top-selling Bild daily said investigators who searched the suspect’s home had uncovered gay pornographic videos in which the man featured as an actor.
Although the films were of no relevance to the case, Bild said they painted a picture of the unusual life of the suspect, who is married with children.
A BfV spokeswoman told AFP that she could not confirm media reports that he had been plotting an attack, saying there was no “evidence of a real danger to the office or its workers”.
The suspect was employed at a bank and had, since April, also been working for the agency gathering intelligence on the radical Islamist scene in Germany.
Germany has so far been spared the kind of large-scale jihadist atrocities that have hit Paris and Brussels, although individuals have carried out attacks and others have been prevented.