28 November 2005
BERLIN – The CIA asked German domestic intelligence agencies to help it recruit moles who could infiltrate Islamist terrorist groups, a Berlin newspaper reported Saturday.
The Tagesspiegel report alleges that approaches were made in 2003 and 2004 to offices for the protection of the constitution in several German states for help in turning Muslim criminals into informers.
The CIA proposed that drug dealers serving long sentences gain early release from jail as a reward if they agreed to infiltrate al-Qaeda. The CIA had offered “fees” of more than 1 million euros (1.17 million dollars), according to unnamed “security experts” quoted by the paper.
Tagesspiegel gave no indication whether the offers had been accepted or not.
DPA
Subject: German news