FRENCH OFFICER ARRESTED

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25742, 2 March 1949, Page 5

FRENCH OFFICER ARRESTED

CHARGE OF ESPIONAGE FOR FOREIGN POWER

ANOTHER QUESTIONED BY SECURITY SERVICE PARIS, February 28. A communique announcing the arrest of an officer on the active list says: “A new espiojiage affair has just been discovered by the Security Service. A major in the active army, a former partisan, a member of the Communist Party and a shareholder in the newspaper ‘France d’Abord,’ the directors of which have just been charged with another espionage affair, has admitted having handed tp a foreign military attache numerous documents which he was able to gather during his duties in the Ministry of AYmaments and National Defence. “Another active officer, who is a captain and an instructor at the Airborne Troops’ School at Pau, has been questioned about his relations with this major and about documents on national defence which he handed over to the newspaper. The inquiry is continuing.” Reuter says that Major Louis Teulery is the army officer charged with divulging defence secrets to a foreign Power. The second officer who has been questioned is Captain Azema. Major Teulery was head of the counter-espionage service in the Armaments Ministry in 1946-47, then controlled by a Communist Minister, Mr Charles Tillon. Major Teulery is charged with passing on information about armaments at that time. He will undergo a secret preliminary examination, which can last for weeks or months. He will be handed over to a military tribunal for formal trial-only if a Magistrate finds that there is a case to answer. The police said that when they raided the offices of “France d’Abord” they found papers signed by Captain Azema.