The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Brothers face spy claim
Two Iranian-born brothers have been charged in Sweden with aggravated espionage for allegedly spying for Russia and its military intelligence service GRU for around a decade, prosecutors said.
One of the men worked for Sweden’s domestic intelligence agency.
Authorities identified them as Peyman Kia, 42, and Payam Kia, 35.
One of the brothers has also been indicted for the alleged gross unauthorised handling of secret information.
It was not immediately clear which of them it is.
“It has been a complex investigation concerning a crime that is very difficult to investigate and the suspicion concerns very serious criminality directed against Sweden’s intelligence and security system,” National Security Unit chief prosecutor Per Lindqvist said.
“The information that has been obtained, transmitted and divulged could, by the fact that if it comes into the hands of a foreign power, result in detriment to Sweden’s security,” Mr Lindqvist said in a statement.
He later told the Associated Press the case involved “extremely sensitive topics” but declined to elaborate.
According to a charge sheet obtained by the AP,
the men “jointly” passed information to the GRU between September 28 2011 and September 20 2021.
It said data was acquired through one of the men’s work within Sweden’s domestic intelligence agency and the country’s armed forces.
The data originates from several authorities within the Swedish security and the intelligence service.
His brother helped with the contacts with “Russia and the GRU including
matters of surrender of information and receipt of compensation”.
According to the charges, Payam Kia “dismantled and broke a hard drive” later found in a bin when his brother was arrested.
The case has been investigated by Sweden’s domestic security service, Sapo.
Sapo said it became suspicious of the former employee and a preliminary investigation was launched in 2017.
Mr Lindqvist said the inquiry was started “because there was a suspicion that there was a mole, an insider” within Sweden’s intelligence community.
The domestic spy agency confirmed Peyman Kia worked there between 2014 and 2015 and before that worked in the Swedish armed forces. Swedish media said he worked for the armed forces’ foreign defence intelligence agency Must and reportedly worked with a top secret unit dealing with Swedish spies abroad.
He later worked for Swedish customs.
The brothers were arrested in September and November 2021.
Both have denied wrongdoing, Swedish media reported.
The brothers face up to life imprisonment if convicted. A life sentence in Sweden generally means a minimum of 20-25 years in prison.