Belgium's Federal Prosecutor's Office said on Saturday that a Canadian citizen working as an intern at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Mons was arrested on Thursday, suspected of espionage on behalf of a third country and of belonging to a criminal organisation. According to the prosecutor, "she is suspected of spying on behalf of a third country and of being a member of a criminal organisation."

The office said she had come to the attention of SHAPE's own security services, which referred the matter to Belgium's General Intelligence and Security Service, and that federal judicial police in Charleroi searched her home and her workplace on the day of the arrest. Her name is being withheld from the public at this time.

The prosecutor has not said which country she is alleged to have worked for, what she is supposed to have accessed or passed on, what the criminal organisation is meant to be, or over what period. While we assume she worked for Canada, this is not known at the time of writing.

The statement did not characterise the nature of the alleged spying at all. Some reports claim she is of Chinese origin, a claim we cannot verify ourselves and has not been confirmed by prosecutors. We will update the record when the prosecutor does, and not on the strength of the inference in the meantime.