A Portuguese and a Russian were arrested in Rome over the weekend on suspicion of espionage, the European Union's judicial cooperation unit Eurojust said on May 24.

Portuguese media said the arrested Portuguese citizen worked for the national SIS intelligence service and was suspected of being a double agent who was passing sensitive information about NATO and the EU to Russia.

There was no official confirmation of this from either Portugal or Italy, and the two suspects were not named. The Russian Embassy in Rome also declined to comment.

Portugal's prosecutor-general confirmed that Lisbon had requested the twin arrests, saying in a statement that investigations suggested the Portuguese national had handed over information in exchange for money "to a foreign national supposedly linked to a foreign information service."

The Hague-based Eurojust said that besides the two arrests and the seizure of evidence in Italy, house searches were carried out in Portugal as part of the operation.

"Espionage cases are relatively rare, and require unique solutions," Eurojust said.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and Interfax

