Greek police arrested a 36-year-old man at Eleftherios Venizelos Airport in Athens on suspicion of spying for Iran in the naval base at Souda Bay, Crete.
Police say the suspect of Georgian descent—originally from Azerbaijan- maintained direct communication with sources in Iran via a specialized encrypted application. Authorities discovered a large volume of photographs of the Hellenic Navy’s Souda naval base on his mobile device.
Souda Bay is home to military facilities for Greece, the U.S., and NATO, and recently, the U.S. aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford visited the base for resupply before sailing to the Middle East.
The suspect’s movements were closely monitored by the Hellenic National Intelligence Service (EYP). On February 3 he arrived in Athens from Düsseldorf and immediately took a connecting flight to Chania, where he stayed in a hotel until February 10, when he checked into a different hotel specifically chosen for its view of the Souda naval base.
On February 24, intelligence officers observed him driving a rental car around the perimeter of Souda Bay, allegedly taking photographs of the installations.
The suspect traveled from Crete to Athens on Sunday and was apprehended at the airport the next day. It remains unclear whether he intended to flee the country or was waiting to meet a third party. Among other intelligence leads, investigators are determining if he recorded the movements of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford.
Second incident involving allegations of spying at Souda Bay
Greek intelligence officials have noted significant similarities between this arrest and that of a 26-year-old Azerbaijani national arrested last summer for espionage at the same location. In that case, the individual also stayed in a hotel overlooking the base, paid in cash, and allegedly monitored naval movements.
That case coincided with the arrest of a 40-year-old Azerbaijani national in Paphos, Cyprus, who was reportedly documenting military installations in Limassol and Paphos. Official court documents in the Cyprus case cited his contact with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
While the cases were officially handled as separate incidents, Greek officials are investigating the possibility that the suspects in Greece and Cyprus were part of the same Iranian-led espionage network. Notably, the 36-year-old arrested today had contacted the same hotel where the 26-year-old suspect had stayed last year.
Related: The Naval Base at Souda, Crete: Strategic Asset or Source of Danger for Greece?