GERMAN SPY SYSTEM RUN ON LARGE SCALE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18043, 31 December 1926, Page 6

GERMAN SPY SYSTEM RUN ON LARGE SCALE.

MYSTERIOUS ‘‘DR WEBER” IS ALLEGED TO HAVE OPERATED IN ENGLAND.

By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Aus. and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON. December 30. Another attack of spy mania is threatened as the result of. the arrest of Stranders by the French police for alleged espionage in the interests of Germany. It is asserted that a network of spying in France and Britain on behalf of Germany has been discovered, the head of which is Dr Weber, a man of many names and high attainments, who gives the impression of being a rich idler, but who is really a most active man. The Paris correspondent of the “ Daily Express” says that Weber made two trips to England this year. He visited London, Newcastle and Portsmouth. A coincidence is that each visit marked the disappearance of documents relating to national defence. In one case it was announced that the documents were found again, but this was only after photographs of the papers had reached Berlin. The Paris correspondent of the “ Daily Chronicle " reports that the police are searching for a pretty blonde who left a note in an hotel after Stranders’ departure, in which she wrote: "I love you.—Your Ginette.” Stranders’ advocate stresses the fact that there is no proof that he communicated anything of a really secret nature. It is revealed that Scotland Yard co-operated with the French police and watched the air ports in case Stranders arrived by aeroplane. Strafiders served in the Royal Flying .Corps, and later was attached to the " Inter-Allied Aeronautical Commission in Germany. The " Evening News ’’ says that . Stranders has admitted that he received 5000 gold marks for information supplied to Germany ‘on a list of. questions which he learned and destroyed.

STRANDERS DECLARES VENGEANCE IS REAL CAUSE OF ARREST.

PARIS, December 29. Notable industrialists are expected to be called in defence of Stranders, who affirms that he is the victim of ven-. geanefe in connection with private affairs. 116 represented a French aircraft” firm . and. frequently made journeys from France to Germany. The police contend that the mysterious “ Dr Weber ” with whom Stranders corresponded was merely a pseudonym for the head of the German spy organisation. The arrest followed the discovery of a pocket book containing notes on the latest French aero engines.