ESPIONAGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 302, 22 December 1933, Page 7

ESPIONAGE.

STARTLING CASE. ARRESTS IN FRANCE. Much Foreign Correspondence Seized FRENCH INTERPRETER FAINTS. (XTnited P.A.— Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Received 10.CO a.m.) PARIS, December 21. As the result of a campaign carried out by 300 members of the Secret Service over a period of eight months, the most sensational espionage case since the war has been discovered, leading to the arrest of 12 suspects, all of whom had prepared for flight. Much Polish, Russian and German correspondence was seized. It is alleged that the ringleaders are a Rumanian-born Canadian merchant named Bercowitz and his wife. A large sum of money was also found in their house. Others of those arrested include an American named Switz and his wife, also a French schoolmistress, who is an expert wireless enthusiast and photographer, and Louis Martin, an interpreter in the Ministry of Marine, who fainted when arrested.

KNOWN IN WINNIPEG.

BERCOWITZ A STOREKEEPER. (Received 11 a.m.) WINNIPEG, December 21. Benjamin Bercowitz, who was arrested in Paris, was naturalised here in 1911. He conducted a store, but suddenly closed it when the Great War broke out. The Canadian authorities are investigating his movements during the conflict.