Berlin: German police arrested two men in Berlin on Tuesday accused of spying on opponents of the Syrian regime in raids involving some 70 officers, federal prosecutors said.
The suspects were identified only as 47-year-old German-Lebanese citizen Mahmoud El A. and 34-year-old Syrian national Akram O., the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.
"They are strongly suspected of regularly spying on Syrian opposition figures in Germany for the Syrian intelligence service for several years," it said.
The prosecutor's office said that around 70 federal and state police officers searched their homes and those of another six suspects.
The two suspects taken into custody will appear before a judge on Wednesday who will present them with the arrest warrants dating from January 31.
