German police quiz four alleged Chinese "spies"

Nov 24, 2009, 14:04 GMT

   Karlsruhe, Germany - German police have searched the homes of four alleged Chinese spies in Munich, interrogating three of them, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

A spokesman in Karlsruhe confirmed the group were under investigation for espionage.

Munich has the world's largest exile community of Uighur people, a mainly Muslim minority which resents Han Chinese settlement in their homeland in western China. The spokesman said none of the four suspects had been formally placed under arrest.

The federal prosecutions office is in charge of inquiries into espionage and subversion.

Spiegel Online said the Chinese were believed to have infiltrated the Uighur community and are alleged to have passed reports on to one of the Chinese consuls in Munich.

A consul is immune from arrest or interrogation, but the four suspects did not enjoy immunity, Spiegel said. German investigators had observed the consul in secret meetings with the four.

It added that a Chinese official at the Munich consulate had voluntarily gone home two years ago after Germany complained that he had been observed meeting alleged informers a dozen times. Beijing claims the Uighur exile movement is terrorist grouping.