Portugal’s attorney general’s office has announced that a 23-year-old (nationality initially not clarified: see update below) has been charged in Portugal with attempted espionage for attempting to sell information stolen from NATO military computer equipment to the Russian embassy in Lisbon.
The situation occurred last year when the young man, who is now in custody, got wind of an event taking place at the Lisbon Naval Base School in Alfeite, Almada.
It is not explained in what context the man learned of ‘the Initial Planning Conference’, held between February 3 and 7, 2025.
The event was the “world’s largest exercise dedicated to robotic experimentation with unmanned systems – REP (MUS), for the year 2025,” the attorney general’s office states, adding that around 300 people participated – most of them military personnel.
Knowing this, the man now in custody – “who made a living from theft”, adds the statement – decided to stay at the same hotel as NATO personnel participating in the conference.
At that hotel, he “appropriated a computer and an iPad”. These belonged to NATO and the Swedish Navy – and were assigned to a NATO military officer.
“Convinced that he had secret and classified material in his possession, (the young man) attempted to access and copy its contents and intended to collaborate with the Russian Federation,” says the statement by the attorney general’s office.
He allegedly “went to the Russian embassy in Lisbon to try to sell” (the information he believed he had), “but was unsuccessful”.
Again, there is nothing in today’s statement to elaborate on this lack of success, nor how it played out.
During the investigation, the statement also reads, the suspect ‘showed himself willing to collaborate with authorities, saying that there was a criminal organisation involved in espionage and breach of judicial secrecy, of which he was a part, along with eleven other people, including an inspector of the PJ judicial police’.
“However, according to the evidence gathered in the investigation, this version of events did not correspond to reality and was merely a ploy used by the defendant to divert attention away from himself,” the attorney general’s office continues.
In addition to the crime of attempted espionage, the 23-year-old has been charged with three counts of aggravated theft, two counts of using another person’s identification and/ or travel document, one count of making false statements, one count of child pornography, two counts of driving without a licence and eleven counts of slanderous accusation.
The defendant has also been banned from making contact with others, writes Lusa, adding that “there are two other official suspects in this case who are accused of aggravated theft and must periodically report to the authorities with identity and residence details”.
UPDATE: Since this story was trailed on Wednesday, tabloid Correio da Manhã has picked up a few more details: The young man is Portuguese. He was aged 22 when he was arrested – and his name is Miguel Henriques.
Described in an online piece by the paper as a ‘former emigré living in Luxembourg’, Rodrigues is being held in Lisbon’s high security Monsanto Prison.
The investigation that led to his arrest “passed through Luxembourg, Germany and even Ukraine – a country that arrested Henriques, in 2023, on suspicion of espionage – but then let him go”.
After his arrest in Ukraine, Henriques claimed to be working for SIS (Portugal’s intelligence agency) – something that SIS has denied.
As CM’s online story concludes, this story reads like a script for a online streaming series. A lot more is likely to emerge in the coming days.
Source: LUSA
