Canadian intern at NATO military headquarters in Belgium arrested on suspicion of spying

Open this photo in gallery:Public Safety Canada said the government was aware of the arrest. It did not disclose the suspect's identity or say which "third country" she is alleged to have been spying for.Hussein Malla/The Associated PressA Canadian woman working as an intern at the operational headquarters of the NATO military alliance in Belgium was arrested Friday on suspicion of espionage.Belgium’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement issued Saturday that the suspect was “a Canadian national of Chinese origin.”“She is suspected of spying on behalf of a third country and of being a member of a criminal organization,” the statement said. Public Safety Canada said the government was aware of the arrest of a Canadian citizen employed by NATO at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, known as SHAPE. It did not disclose the suspect’s identity or say which “third country” she is alleged to have been spying for. “The arrest is related to an ongoing criminal investigation,” the department said in a statement. As a member of the NATO alliance, Canada has military representatives based at the SHAPE command centre, located in the southern Belgian city of Mons, near the French border. Military officials at SHAPE plan and command joint strategy, tactics and operations. NATO’s Cyber Security Centre is also based there. The suspect was an intern at SHAPE, although it is not known in which division she was working or how long she had been working there. Belgium’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office said the suspect had come to the attention of SHAPE’s security services, which had reported their concerns to the country’s military intelligence agency. The matter was then referred to the federal prosecutor’s office, which launched an investigation.On Thursday, officers searched the suspect’s home and place of work inside NATO’s command centre, with support from a computer crime unit and a forensic and scientific unit, the prosecutor’s office said. The suspect was arrested the next day.Col. Martin O’Donnell, a SHAPE spokesperson, said there is no indication that NATO or SHAPE operational readiness, command and control arrangements, or ongoing tasks have been adversely affected.“SHAPE continues to fulfill its responsibilities without interruption,” he said in an e-mail. “NATO remains fully committed to protecting Allied personnel, safeguarding classified information, and maintaining the trust and security upon which the Alliance depends,” he added. With a report from Marieke Walsh.