German prosecutors have accused a Danish national, arrested Thursday, of working for Iran and conducting surveillance on Jewish targets in Berlin.
In a July 1 statement, the German federal prosecutor’s office said an arrest warrant was issued on June 24 by an investigating judge from the Federal Court of Justice and used two days later to detain the Danish citizen, identified only as Ali S.
Ali S. was arrested in Aarhus, Denmark, by officers from the Danish Police Intelligence Service (Politiets Efterretningstjeneste, or PET).
The German federal prosecutor’s office said Ali S. would be extradited from Denmark and brought before the investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice.
“The suspect is strongly suspected of working for the intelligence service of a foreign power,” the federal prosecutor’s office said.
The arrest warrant alleges that in early 2025, Ali S. was tasked by an Iranian intelligence agency with collecting information in Berlin about Jewish locations and certain Jewish individuals, according to the prosecutor’s office.
“To this end, in June 2025, he conducted surveillance on three sites in the city. These actions are believed to have been in preparation for further intelligence operations in Germany—possibly including attacks on Jewish targets,” the office said.
‘Outrageous Operation’
German Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig, in a statement on July 1, said, “If this suspicion is confirmed, we are dealing with an outrageous operation.”
The minister added that the protection of Jewish life “has the highest priority for the German government.”
Iranian Ambassador to Berlin Majid Nili Ahmadabadi was summoned to the German Foreign Ministry after the arrest was announced.
The Iranian Embassy in Berlin said it rejected the “unfounded and dangerous allegations.”
The embassy said the allegations “appear to be part of a deliberate campaign” to divert attention from “the recent aggression of the Israeli regime against Iranian territory.”
Germany has been a strong ally of Israel during the conflict with Iran.
In October 2024, Germany ordered the closure of all three Iranian consulates in response to the execution of Jamshid Sharmahd, a German Iranian prisoner who lived in the United States but was abducted in Dubai in 2020 by Iranian security forces. Iran’s embassy in Berlin remained open.
More Protection for Germany’s Jews
The German authorities stepped up protection for the country’s Jewish community and Israeli government facilities after Israel launched strikes on Iran on June 13.
There has been a rise in anti-Semitic attacks across Europe since the conflict in Gaza broke out following an attack by Hamas-led terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023.
In November 2024, a Spanish politician and opponent of the Iranian regime, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, 79, claimed Tehran was operating in alliance with European organized crime groups.
Vidal-Quadras, who himself survived being shot in Madrid on Nov. 9, 2023, said during an online seminar that the Iranian regime was working with the Netherlands-based Mocro Maffia (Moroccan mafia) gang and other organized crime syndicates as it targeted dissidents and European nationals.
On March 12, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Swedish man Rawa Majid, alleging that he runs a group known as the Foxtrot Network.
OFAC said the gang trafficked illegal drugs and carried out attacks on Israelis and Jews in Europe on behalf of the Iranian government.
Europol, an agency that supports law enforcement cooperation between EU member states, launched an operational task force in April to “tackle the rising trend of violence-as-a-service” and the recruitment of young people by organized crime syndicates.
“Investigations show that these acts are often orchestrated remotely, with young people recruited and instructed online,” the agency said in a statement.
Last month, Europol said the task force had made its first arrests when seven individuals were detained in Sweden and Morocco in connection with alleged criminality in Denmark.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
