Two Munich residents have been arrested on suspicion of working for a Chinese intelligence service, seeking to obtain and pass on high-tech information with "military applications."
The suspects are a married couple with German citizenship, identified as Xuejun C. and Hua S..
What are the couple accused of?
Prosecutors said the pair were suspected of working for a Chinese secret intelligence agency.
"In order to obtain access to scientific information about high-tech technologies with military applications, they built up contacts with numerous scientists at German universities and research institutes," prosecutors wrote.
The two individuals were arrested on Wednesday on the authority of a warrant issued a week earlier; federal prosecutors worked in conjunction with authorities in Bavaria.
The couple were taken to the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) in Karlsruhe later on Wednesday for a decision on their being held in investigative detention.
The Munich residences and workplaces of the suspects were searched.
Further operations in connection with the arrests also took place across the states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Brandenburg, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia.
These were aimed at establishing contact with witnesses who are not under suspicion of criminal activity.
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