Arrest on Suspicion of Engaging in Intelligence Activities

Year of issue 2025
Date 16.01.2025

Yesterday (15 January 2025), the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office had agents of the Federal Criminal Police Office arrest

the Moroccan national Youssef El A.

upon his arrival at Frankfurt am Main International Airport in execution of an arrest warrant issued by the Investigating Judge at the Federal Court of Justice on 15 February 2023. The accused had been detained in Spain since 1 December 2024 following the issuance of a European Arrest Warrant and was subsequently extradited to Germany to face prosecution.

Youssef El A. is strongly suspected of engaging in intelligence activities for a Moroccan intelligence service since no later than January 2022 (section 99 para. 1 no. 1 of the German Criminal Code [StG]).

In essence, the arrest warrant against him sets out the following facts:

Youssef El A. was spying on followers of the so-called Hirak Movement - a Moroccan opposition protest group - since no later than January 2022. The suspect acted in concert with Mohamed A. who had been assigned by Morocco’s foreign intelligence service DGED accordingly and passed the gathered intelligence along to his case officers. Based on the charges filed by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (see press release no. 31 of 23 Juni 2023), Mohamed A. was sentenced to a probationary prison term of one year and nine months on 31 August 2023. The ruling is final.
Today, Youssef El A. was brought before the Investigating Judge at the Federal Court of Justice who read out the arrest warrant to him and ordered that he be placed in pre-trial detention.