17. 02. 09. - 16:00

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17. 02. 09. - 16:00

Policemen busted for spying for Kazakhstan

Two Lower Austrian policemen have been suspended from duty and arrested for spying for the Kazakhstan secret service.

Interior Ministry spokesman Rudolf Gollia today (Tues) confirmed the news as reported by the weekly magazine "Falter." He said the two policemen had been working in Lower Austria but declined to identify the location.

Falter reported the arrests were linked to former Kazakh Ambassador to Austria Rakhat Alijev, the former son-in-law of Kazakh President Nursultan Nasarbajev. Austria rejected a Kazakh government request for the extradition of Alijev, who is wanted in Kazakhstan for alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murder of a banker.

The Kazakh secret service then tried to kidnap Alijev in Austria, according to Falter, and paid one of the arrested policemen for information from the EKIS police computer.

The arrests occurred after a search of the two policemen’s residences last week. One of them had reportedly worked in the interior ministry’s office of internal affairs in 2006, and one of them had already been suspended at the time of his arrest, according to the magazine.

The case is not the first involving spying for Kazakhstan. An Austrian policeman was convicted last month for doing so, Gollia said.

Austrian Times

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