PARIS, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Four people, including two Chinese nationals, have been arrested in France on suspicion of spying for China and were brought before an investigative judge, the Paris public prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday.
The cybercrime division of the Paris public prosecutor’s office has opened a judicial investigation into the affair, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
This followed the discovery that two Chinese nationals had entered French territory with the aim of capturing satellite data from the Starlink network and data from entities of vital importance, particularly military entities, in order to transmit it to their country of origin, namely China, it added.
Four people were brought before the investigating judge, with two of them being remanded in custody, it added.
The case is the latest in a series of incidents involving allegations of Chinese spying in Europe.
Tensions between Beijing and Western powers over espionage have risen in recent years as Western intelligence agencies increasingly sound the alarm on alleged Chinese state-backed hacking activity. China has consistently denied the allegations. The Asian country has also alleged hacking operations by Western countries.
The Chinese embassy could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday.
According to the statement by the prosecutor’s office, French police were alerted on January 30 that two Chinese nationals were suspected of conducting satellite interception operations from an Airbnb in Gironde, southwestern France. Local residents had noticed a roughly two-meter-wide satellite dish being installed, which coincided with an internet outage.
The investigation, led by the cybercrime division of the Paris public prosecutor’s office, was entrusted to France’s General Directorate for Internal Security.
Investigators conducted a search on January 31, during which they discovered a computer system connected to satellite dishes used to capture satellite data, which was seized for analysis. The two individuals were taken into custody.
Two other people were arrested when they arrived at the residence, suspected of having illegally imported the material.
The judicial investigation will focus on alleged offenses including the unlawful disclosure of sensitive information to foreign entities, potentially harming national interests, and the organized-gang theft of data from an automated processing system.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon and Sudip Kar-Gupta in Paris, Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Matthew Lewis)
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