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Ex-BND Chief Files Oversight Complaint Over Hamburg Probe Into Alleged 2022 Abduction Plot

The move challenges prosecutors' use of covert tactics in a case tied to a failed 2022 attempt to seize the Block children.

Overview

  • Former German intelligence head August Hanning lodged an oversight complaint against Hamburg's justice authority, which confirmed receipt and said it will review it.
  • Hamburg prosecutors say they are investigating Hanning and a retired state police officer over an alleged 2022 plan to take the Block children using a private security firm.
  • Prosecutors state the firm is suspected of accepting a commission from Christina Block worth more than €100,000 for the attempted removal.
  • Investigators carried out 13 searches in Germany and Switzerland and used a court-approved undercover officer as part of the case.
  • Hanning denies wrongdoing through his lawyer, who calls the undercover use unlawful and alleges phones of journalists were monitored; Hanning is not a defendant in the separate trial accusing Christina Block of ordering the 2023/24 abduction in Denmark.