A Belarusian arrested in France for espionage on behalf of Russia at a drone factory
A 48-year-old man born in Belarus and residing in Spain was arrested on 3 June near Toulouse whilst filming a prototype drone intended for the French and Ukrainian armed forces.
A Belarusian arrested in France for espionage on behalf of Russia at a drone factory
A 48-year-old man originally from Belarus has been placed in provisional detention and charged with spying on a French drone manufacturing facility located near Toulouse, in the south of the country.
The facts unfolded in early June, but the French authorities only made the matter public the following Friday. On 3 June, the suspect was apprehended in flagrante delicto whilst recording on video a prototype unmanned aerial vehicle belonging to a company supplying equipment to the French and Ukrainian armed forces, according to the Paris Prosecutor's Office, which is investigating suspicions of foreign interference committed on national territory.
Investigators from the Directorate-General for Internal Security (DGSI) established that the individual in question had transmitted a video sequence to a contact in Russia, the magistrates specified.
On 5 June, the Paris Prosecutor's Office opened judicial proceedings targeting several offences affecting the security and fundamental interests of the nation.
The defendant has been charged notably with transmission of information to a foreign power, namely Russia, an offence punishable by a sentence of up to fifteen years' imprisonment, as well as with criminal association, the public prosecutor's office specified.
According to sources cited by the French press, the individual, who was living in Spain, was targeting the Delair factory located in Labège, on the outskirts of Toulouse, not far from the French-Spanish border. Two days before his apprehension, this same site had been the subject of Molotov cocktail attacks, which however had not exploded.
Source: Observator News
Source: Google News RO — Crime (ro)