- Two Iranian-born Swedish brothers have been convicted of ten years of spying for Russia.
- One of them had a job with the Swedish domestic intelligence service and obtained classified information.
- Prosecutors said the brothers tried to cover their tracks, including by asking Google.
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Undercover agents working for Russia have been sentenced to long prison terms after being convicted in a Swedish court case that exposed years of deception.
Peyman Kia and Payam Kia, two Iranian-born Swedish brothers, spent a decade secretly working for Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, the Associated Press reported.
Part of this time a brother worked for the Swedish domestic intelligence service and the military, giving them access to state secrets.
During the case, prosecutors described how they panicked and tried to flee, including asking Google how they could avoid prosecution. Their search history was recorded while they were in court and was part of the case.
Peyman, 42, was sentenced to at least 25 years in prison by a Stockholm court. His younger brother, 35, was sentenced to nine years and ten months.
The court ruling against them said, according to the AP, that the brothers were working “for the good of Russia and the GRU” and were “passing on and disclosing information” that affected Sweden’s security.
Between 2014 and 2015, the eldest brother worked for Sweden’s domestic intelligence agency Säpo and the armed forces, the court heard.
He is said to have stolen around 90 secret documents. According to the AP report, his younger brother helped and acquired about 65 documents.
Russia most likely paid Peyman around $50,000 for the classified documents between 2016 and 2017, prosecutors said, according to The Telegraph.
Shortly before Peyman and Payam’s arrests in September and November 2021, respectively, the brothers tried to cover their tracks and conducted at least 28 searches on their phones related to evading the law, according to The Telegraph.
Some of the searches included “espionage,” “legal fees,” “keep away from the law,” and “disappeared in Sweden,” according to court documents released by Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet.
They also looked at how to permanently delete files from a phone and how to wipe data from messaging apps, according to the outlet.
After his older brother’s arrest, Payam “disassembled and destroyed a hard drive that was later found in a trash can,” the AP reported.
Peyman’s attorney said he plans to appeal the verdict while the younger brother hasn’t decided whether to appeal, the AP reported.