A Dutch security service AIVD employee and her partner, who used to work for the same service, have been arrested on suspicion of supplying state secrets to a Telegraaf newspaper journalist.

The couple and the Telegraaf journalist’s homes have been searched by police looking for confidential information. ‘We have strong indications that the journalists are in possession of secret information,’ a spokeswoman for the public prosecution department said.
Leaking classified information carries a six year maximum jail term.
Exclusives
The allegations focus on two Telegraaf exclusives. In one, the paper accused AIVD staff of simply copying reports about Iran’s alleged weapons of mass destruction from Britain’s M16 and other foreign security services, without any independent verification of the facts. The Netherlands supported the invasion of Iraq partly on the basis of AIVD reports.
The second focuses on claims that threats had been made against the Dalai Lama during his visit to the Netherlands earlier this month.
Telegraaf editor in chief Sjuul Paradijs reacted furiously to the raids. ‘Yet again a journalist has been seriously compromised in his personal life in an effort to plug an AIVD leak. This is the latest attack on press freedom,’ he said.
In 2006, two Telegraaf journalists were jailed for a term for refusing to say who had provided them with secret information.