An alarm has been raised in Souda, as intelligence agencies arrested a Turkish national and a Georgian national on charges of espionage after they were photographed taking pictures of the naval base.
Initially, it was reported that the Georgian national had been taken into custody in Athens, where he had been under surveillance by the Greek EYP authorities. They had detected suspicious activity near the Souda naval base and brought him in to determine whether he was sending materials to Iran.
EYP agents also arrested a Turkish national who was taking photographs of the naval base; however, the two cases are not related.
The first case—that of the Georgian—appears to be much more serious, as material was found on his cell phone from the U.S. aircraft carrier Ford, which had docked at Souda for refueling.
The 36-year-old arrived in Athens from Germany and flew from «Eleftherios Venizelos» Airport to Chania. He even stayed at a hotel near the Souda base. Coincidence? Azeros, who was arrested in Chania last June and remains in custody on espionage charges, was staying at the same hotel.
The Georgian man rented a car in Chania and was spotted acting suspiciously near the base during the days the aircraft carrier Ford was at the base. He then returned to Athens and attempted to leave the country, but was arrested.
According to initial reports, it appears to be linked to Iran.
In Chania, a large EYP delegation from Athens is «staying» at the Souda base
According to reliable information from Cretalive.gr, a a large team from the National Intelligence Service (EYP), which has traveled from Athens with full operational equipment and has «set up shop» at the Souda Base facilities, which resemble a «fortress» over a wide area.
Access to the secure area is strictly restricted and is permitted only after thorough checks, which—as has been noted—are reminiscent of… a CT scan.
According to reports, the unit has developed technical surveillance tools, communications monitoring systems, and mechanisms for collecting and cross-referencing data. Every movement is recorded. Every sound is analyzed. No piece of information is left unexamined.
Against the backdrop of the war and heightened geopolitical tensions in the wider region, Souda is at the center of attention. The large EYP team from Athens serves as the state’s «eyes and ears» on a 24-hour basis, monitoring, analyzing, and evaluating every piece of information related to the security of this critical facility.
This case comes on the heels of an earlier incident in Souda, where, in June, a 26-year-old Azerbaijani national was arrested on felony charges of espionage. The young man was staying at a hotel with a view of the bay and was using a camera to record the movements of warships as they entered and exited the naval base. The footage was transferred to a memory card, then to a laptop, where it was encrypted before being sent to an unknown recipient.
In fact, one day before the arrest of the 26-year-old, a 44-year-old man, also from Azerbaijan, had been arrested in Cyprus and charged with espionage on behalf of Iran.
According to reports, he used encryption software and recorded the movements of military vehicles at the British base in Limassol.
