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Former German spy found guilty of trying to share state secrets while pretending to be jihadist

The former banker and a father-of-four was also an ex-gay porn actor.

A FORMER GERMAN intelligence agent who was also an ex-gay porn actor was given a one-year suspended sentence for attempting to share state secrets while pretending to be a jihadist online.

The 52-year-old named as Roque M., made headlines when he was arrested last November in what initially appeared to be a case of an Islamist mole at work in Germany’s domestic spy agency.

But he was freed in July after prosecutors dropped most of the charges, finding no evidence of an attack plot or ties to Islamist groups.

He told the court that he pretended to be a jihadist planning an attack in online chatrooms because he was bored.

“I never met with any Islamists. I would never do that. The whole thing was like a game,” the suspect said at the start of his trial in the western city of Duesseldorf.

A former banker and a father-of-four, Roque M. told the court that he monitored the Islamist scene as part of his job for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), a role he described as “a lot of fun”.

But he said he grew bored on weekends when he was at home watching his son who is disabled, and immersed himself in the online world of Islamists, feigning to be one himself.

It was “an escape from reality,” he said in court.

He even went so far as to arrange a meeting with a suspected Islamist at a gym, although Roque M. insisted he never had any intention of going.

He was caught after he offered to share classified information about BfV operations with someone who turned out to be a colleague working undercover.

The case initially sparked outrage, with Germany’s domestic spy agency fending off calls for a complete security overhaul for allowing an “Islamist” to infiltrate its team who had passed multiple screenings.

The intelligence agent’s colourful past as a gay porn actor also enthralled the public.

But as no evidence emerged of an actual Islamist plot, prosecutors left Roque M. facing the sole charge of attempting to share state secrets.

© – AFP 2017

Read: ‘Ignorant hate speech belongs in medieval times’: Iran strongly criticises Trump>

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    Mute Motherofthree
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    Aug 5th 2019, 8:04 AM

    Beautiful building I hope it’s developed wisely

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    Mute Kerrydone
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    Aug 6th 2019, 12:46 AM

    @Motherofthree: i’d say An Taisce and Dublin Civic Trust will have a field day on this planning application! The developers better have a world class conservation team working for them!

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    Mute Nick
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    Aug 5th 2019, 8:15 AM

    Beautiful facade hope it’s preserved…

    132
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    Mute Caroline Elbay
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    Aug 5th 2019, 8:47 AM

    ‘Plans for the site include 1400 apartments… with more than 100 homes…’ is there not a huge discrepancy with this statement, or are apartments not considered to be ‘homes’? Moreover, it would serve the community better in the long term to build affordable housing that people can actually purchase rather than ‘build-to-rent’ thus perpetuating the phenomena of greedy corporate Landlordism by foreign investment funds.

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    Mute Peadar Mindyourownbuisness
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    Aug 5th 2019, 10:03 AM

    @Caroline Elbay: they mean that because there are 1400 homes planned, which is above 100, the application can be submitted to ABP ,rather than the local authority

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    Mute Lionheart1
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    Aug 5th 2019, 10:09 AM

    @Caroline Elbay: What about rent to buy?

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    Mute noah tall
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    Aug 5th 2019, 12:42 PM

    @Caroline Elbay: it means as it’s over 100 homes the application can be sent straight to ABP. Look before you leap!

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    Mute thomas walsh
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    Aug 5th 2019, 4:53 PM

    @Lionheart1: that’s a mortgage

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    Mute Kerrydone
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    Aug 6th 2019, 1:10 AM

    @Caroline Elbay: agree re foreign funds but still think there is a place for build to rent as long as it’s affordable, and more importantly, properly managed/maintained. The failure of many social housing developments has been the lack of maintenance by local authorities, so the fact this would be managed by a private company is actually a positive in my view. The bother is, this proper maintenance won’t be cheap, and therefore I can’t see the BTR prices here being very affordable.

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    Mute Whoswho
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    Aug 5th 2019, 9:16 AM

    It would be good to have some history kept in the our country rather than bulldoze every deteriorating building

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    Mute Joey Casey
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    Aug 5th 2019, 10:05 AM

    Probably the same people that complain about the housing crisis, now dont want apartments built in their back yard.
    1400 new apartments are badly needed. But please build up high in the city!

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    Mute Boris Becker
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    Aug 5th 2019, 10:50 AM

    @Joey Casey: badly needed yes….but affordable, somehow I doubt these will be for the average joe

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    Mute sVRCsaSg
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    Aug 5th 2019, 11:34 AM

    @Boris Becker: you know what would make them more affordable? – a huge increase in supply of properties.

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    Mute Sean
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    Aug 6th 2019, 8:02 AM

    @Joey Casey: I didn’t hear anyone saying they didn’t want them built – just that the facade of the building was worth maintaining similar to what happened with the recent Boland Mills development.

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    Mute Boris Becker
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    Aug 5th 2019, 9:23 AM

    “Vultures Please”….Feck off (built to rent) shameful if this is allowed to happen

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    Mute Robert Flood
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    Aug 5th 2019, 10:17 AM

    It’s a fine structure that represents a profit making institution that gained at our expense which the health system and our taxes are still paying for. I say obliterate it and return the land to the people with a majority of social housing.

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    Mute Peter D W Clancy
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    Aug 5th 2019, 11:00 AM

    @Robert Flood: Will our taxes pay for the social housing too?

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    Mute Nick
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    Aug 5th 2019, 11:22 AM

    @Robert Flood: sounds like a dictat. “return” it to the people… Did they ever own it?

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    Mute Darren Bates
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    Aug 5th 2019, 11:39 AM

    @Robert Flood: oh give it a rest. I’m a massive anti-smoking advocate but we can’t knock down a beautiful building just because cigarettes were made there once upon a time.

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    Mute Darren
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    Aug 5th 2019, 11:17 AM

    That’s a great location for workers wanting to live in the city, I don’t see much social housing coming of it but 1400 apartment developments are what we need in around the city centre.

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    Mute Bryen O Murchu
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    Aug 5th 2019, 12:53 PM

    Apartments in an Irish context are the slums of the future be careful what you ask for

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    Mute Mick Scanlan
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    Aug 5th 2019, 11:32 AM

    The Product made in that building killed thousands of irish people. Bulldoze it .

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    Mute Bilbo Baggins
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    Aug 5th 2019, 11:53 AM

    @Mick Scanlan: Hardly the buildings fault.

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    Mute Michael Kavanagh
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    Aug 5th 2019, 12:45 PM

    @Mick Scanlan:
    You want Guinness gone as well?
    Anywhere that was once a distillery?

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    Mute Kerrydone
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    Aug 6th 2019, 1:12 AM

    @Mick Scanlan: ah now mick, An Taisce won’t like you saying stuff like that.

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    Mute Patrick FitzGerald
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    Aug 5th 2019, 3:17 PM

    This site should be developed entirely as public housing to break the cycle of high rents being driven by nothing but greed.

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    Mute Sean
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    Aug 6th 2019, 8:05 AM

    I would bet now that the apartments are sold as a block to a pension trust or real estate fund before they are completed and subsequently rented out and that they are not sold individually as homes.

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    Mute Anthony Clark
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    Aug 5th 2019, 9:54 PM

    I remember the very strong tobacco making smells as you passed the building…

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    Mute Keith Ellis
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    Aug 5th 2019, 10:39 PM

    It was also the site of where Red Rock was filmed.

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