SPY NETWORK IN EUROPE

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27734, 11 August 1955, Page 13

SPY NETWORK IN EUROPE

Espionage Against Communism (Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 10. The United States has handed over the largest spy network in Western Germany to the West German Government, says the Associated Press. Senior German officials disclosed that the powerful espionage service led by General Gehlen has been placed under the direct control of the Chancellor. Dr. Adenauer. “For the last eight years the United States has financed the Gehlen organisation at a cost of £2.000,000 a year. “With 4000 agents, the organisation is widely regarded in Europe as the most elective Western intelligence service in collecting material on the Soviet Union and its East European satellites. “Gehlen agents are said to operate throughout Eastern Europe and as far inside Russia as Eastern Siberia. “While he was under American control. General Gehlen sent his intelligence information on the Soviet bloc to Washington.” The Borin correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says the organisation employs an unknown number of agents in Russia, and Eastern Europe. “Its effectiveness has been shown by the numerous Russian demands for its winding up,” the correspondent says.