A SPY RING

Waikato Times, Volume 123, Issue 20693, 31 December 1938, Page 7

A SPY RING

WIPED OUT IN SPAIN 200 SENTENCED TO DEATH ITALO-GERMAN ACTIVITIES t United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright, l BARCELONA, Dec. 30 In one smashing blow the Republican Government has wiped out a spy ring of staggering proportions. Two hundred have been sentenced to dealb and 200 have been gaoled lor from 2" to 30 years. The Defence Ministry asserts tint the ring was under the direct control of tlie German and Italian General Staffs. The chief spy was Major Antonio Aimat, who was' a prominent member of the Republican General Staff. Many minor spies operated for months in ignorance of the fact that Republican police watched their every move, and noted all persons with whom they had contact. When a c implete record of the ring's ramifications had been obtained. I lie police arrested 1200 within a few days. Doctors, lawyers, priests and soldiers were among those arrested. It was discovered that the spies had given the rebels details of detem e works constructed in the strategically important mountainous country surrounding Barcelona. Other spies signalled Italian ant German bombing aeroplanes, giving information of the movements of troops and munitions. Popular fury has been roused by the revelation that the spies also advised the lumbers of civilian gatherings which might advisedly be bombed “ for moral effect.”