A security guard at the British embassy in Berlin suspected of spying for Russia has been extradited from Germany and will appear in a UK court on Thursday, police have said.
David Smith, 57, was arrested by German police on 10 August last year and is accused of collecting information from the British embassy in Berlin intending to pass it to a foreign state.
One of the nine charges relates to allegations he passed information to a person he believed was a representative of the Russian state, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
He was flown from Germany today and is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, the Metropolitan Police said.
The alleged offences were committed between October 2020 and August 2021.
Smith, who was employed as a security guard at the British Embassy in Berlin, was extradited back to the UK from Germany on 6 April following his arrest by German police last August.
Nick Price, Head of Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division at the CPS, said: “David Smith has been charged with nine offences contrary to the Official Secrets Act.
“He is accused of seven offences of collecting information with the intent of sending it to the Russian authorities, one of attempting communication and one of providing information to a person he believed was a member of the Russian authorities.
“After reviewing the case and authorising charges, we obtained an extradition warrant and worked closely with our German counterparts in order to bring Mr Smith back to the UK.”
Smith was understood to have been monitored by MI5 and was detained in Potsdam over allegations that he had been working “for a foreign secret service”, the German public prosecutor said at the time.
His arrest was the result of a joint investigation by German and British authorities and investigators searched his home and office, the prosecutor’s statement said.