A German intelligence employee who was operating undercover as an Islamist has been arrested for allegedly making extremist statements online, leaking sensitive material and planning an attack, local media reported Tuesday.
The 51-year-old German national began working for Germany's BfV domestic intelligence agency in April 2016 and was tasked with observing radical Islamists in the country, news magazine Spiegel reported.
But according to the Welt newspaper, the suspect was planning a bomb attack at the agency's headquarters in Cologne, while the Spiegel reported that he had already partially confessed to the plot.
A BfV spokesman confirmed the arrest to dpa and said that the suspect had used an alias to offer sensitive agency information via internet chat rooms.
However, he would not confirm a planned bombing, adding that there was nothing to indicate a concrete threat to employees or intelligence agency premises.
The suspect was employed recently and did not come across as suspicious during his application for the job, nor in subsequent training or work exercises, the BfV told dpa.
The reports said that the man was being investigated on suspicion of planning a violent attack against the state.
The Welt reported that he intended to carry out an attack "in the name of Allah," citing a statement he made during questioning. However, he was apparently not in the advanced stages of planning.
The authorities became aware of the man's infiltration four weeks ago, according to Spiegel. State prosecutors in Dusseldorf told the news weekly that an arrest warrant had been issued.
The report added that the suspect allegedly converted to Islam in 2014 via telephone, swearing an oath to Mohamed Mahmoud, a prominent figure in Berlin's radical Islamist scene who has since gone to Syria to fight for Daesh.
By Joerg Blank and Ulrich Steinkohl
