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Estonia arrests former state security agent on charges of spying for Russia

Veitman had been employed at the security police’s technical operations department until his retirement on pension in May 2011

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

TALLINN, August 10 (Itar-Tass) - A former agent of Estonia’s state security service, Vladimir Veitman, has been arrested on charges of high treason.

“We’ve gathered enough evidence to suspect that he was working for Russia’s secret services,” the general director of Estonia’s security police Arnold Sinisalu told a news conference on Friday.

Veitman had been employed at the security police’s technical operations department until his retirement on pension in May 2011.

“He had access to different classified information,” Sinisalu said.

In the Soviet era the suspect had served at the technical operations department of Estonia’s KGB.

“We hired him because we had quite a few pieces of sophisticated equipment to deal with, Sinisalu said to explain the reasons why a former KGB employee was allowed to serve in the security police of independent Estonia.

He is certain that Veitman had no relations with his former KGB colleagues at that moment.

“It would happen later,” Sinisalu said.

Investigators claim that in Veitman’s caches they found large amounts of cash.

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