German authorities are investigating a second spy case reportedly involving the United States, a week after the arrest of a German intelligence employee cast a new shadow over relations between the two countries, according to Reuters.
Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that police raided properties in the Berlin area on "initial suspicion of activity for an intelligence agency," Reuters reported. They did not elaborate or specify what intelligence agency was involved, but said they had not made an arrest.
Last week, a 31-year-old German intelligence employee was arrested on suspicion of spying for foreign powers since 2012, according to Reuters. German media have reported that he spied for the United States and came to authorities' attention when he recently offered his services to Russian officials in Germany by email.
"We have investigations in two cases of suspected espionage, a very serious suspicion," government spokesman Steffen Seibert later told reporters in Berlin. He declined to provide further details, citing the ongoing investigations, according to Reuters.
Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Col. Uwe Roth declined to confirm the reports, but said the case fell "into the ministry's area of responsibility" and that Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen had been informed, Reuters reported.
State Department officials traveling with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Beijing had no immediate comment, according to Reuters. The White House also decided to comment, although press secretary Josh Earnest reiterated that the U.S. appreciates its "important partnership" with German national security officials.
Earnest said diplomats from the two countries were working to resolve circumstances surrounding the reports, Reuters reported.
The case has frayed relations between Berlin and Washington, which were already strained by reports last year that the National Security Agency had targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone and conducted mass surveillance of Internet traffic in Germany, according to Reuters.
