US: Govt contractor arrested on charges of spying for Ethiopia
Representative image of handcuffs.
A US government contractor has been arrested on charges of spying, reportedly for Ethiopia. According to a statement by the US Justice Department on Thursday (September 21), 50-year-old Abraham Teklu Lemma was arrested on August 24 and has been charged with providing national defence information to a foreign government. Lemma is a naturalised US citizen of Ethiopian descent.
"According to the criminal complaint, between on or about Dec. 19, 2022, and Aug. 7, 2023, Lemma copied classified information from intelligence reports and deleted the classification markings from them," the Justice Department statement said.
"Lemma then removed the information, which was classified as SECRET and TOP SECRET, from secure facilities at the Department of State. This material related to a specific country and/or geographic region. Lemma accessed, copied, removed, and retained this information without authorisation," it added.
Charging documents said that Lemma used an encrypted application to transmit classified national defence information to a foreign government official associated with a foreign country’s intelligence service.
In these communications, the 50-year-old expressed an interest and willingness to assist the foreign government official by providing information. In one such communication, the foreign official stated, “[i]t’s time to continue ur support.” Lemma responded, “Roger that!”
The department also said that the classified information that Lemma transferred to the foreign official included satellite imagery and other information regarding military activities in the foreign country and region.
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"The two espionage charges carry a potential penalty of death or any term of years up to life in prison, and the willful retention charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. A federal judge will determine any sentence based on the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors," it further said.
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