from New Scientist, 04 November 1995
Sipping tea from a fine china cup, the former head of one of
the world's most notorious secret police forces chuckles to himself. As if from
habit, he glances anxiously around his small, comfortable study, moving his
arms constantly as he talks. "I can give you an example," he says,
"one that has not been in the newspapers before."
Werner Grossmann, silver-haired and 66, is talking about the
four years from 1986 to 1990 during which he ran the former East Germany's
state security agency, the Stasi. He alleges that during that period his agents
discovered that the East German embassy at 34 Belgrave Square in London had
been secretly bugged - presumably by the British secret service, MI5. He says
that hidden microphones were detected in three rooms: the Ambassador's office;
his secretary's office; and the embassy's main conference room. "I think
that everything that was said in those rooms, and every telephone call, was
recorded night and day," he told New Scientist.
Grossmann cannot remember precisely when the bugs were
discovered - perhaps in 1988 he says - and has no idea how long the devices had
been there. He professes ignorance of the exact nature of the technology used,
although he admits that it was very sophisticated and had much to teach the
Stasi's technicians. He says that similar listening devices were discovered in
the East German embassy in Zimbabwe, for which he also blames MI5.
