Top German spy turned jihadi ‘converted to Islam so secretly even his WIFE didn’t know… before using classified info to plot terror attack’
The man reportedly converted to Islam while monitoring Islamists in Cologne
A GERMAN intelligence officer arrested for allegedly plotting blow up his agency's headquarters converted to Islam so secretly not even his wife knew, according to reports.
The man worked for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the Bundesverfassungsschutz (BfV), and reportedly converted to Islam while working to monitor Islamists in Cologne.
The 51-year-old German national was arrested for sharing "sensitive information" online - understood to be code for leaking intelligence secrets to other Jihadists.
The man, who is said to be married with children, is yet confirmed as having has links to the Islamic State.
A BfV spokeswoman said: "The BfV has managed to expose a suspected Islamist among its associates.
" [He] made Islamist remarks online under a false name, and had offered internal information during online chats".
The man is now in detention and his mobile devices and computers being analysed to gauge the extent of his treachery.
The BfV did not confirm that he planned to bomb the agency HQ in Cologne - an allegation widely reported in German media.
However, it did say he has made a "partial confession" - confirming he crossed over from his job of observing radical Islamists to becoming part of the scene himself.
The discovery raises new fears he may not be the only one inside the agency - which Angela Merkel has promised to bolster as the threats against Germany from terrorists continue to rise. The man, a former bank clerk, had been at the agency for several months starting in April of this year.
His chat logs featured messages in which he talked to fellow radical Islamists while attempting to recruit them into the spy agency to help plan attacks against “non believers.”
According to German media reports, not even the suspect's wife knew that he had covertly converted to Islam.
His conversion was allegedly made via a phone call in which he pledged an oath to a Salafist Imam named Mohamed Mahmoud - who previously preached in Berlin before moving to Syria to fight for the Islamic State. The BfV noted that he was “inconspicuous” during his application and all through his training.
The agency also acknowledged the man’s attention to secrecy as they discovered multiple storage devices detailing internal operations, assignments and deployments. The spy was caught after trying to recruit a fellow Islamist, who actually turned out to be a fellow agent at the BfV.
Prosecutors are drawing up charges for a case of "preparing a serious act threatening state security".