‘Maria T.’: A case of espionage uncovered by Greece’s intelligence service

The modus operandi of how foreign intelligence services infiltrate Greece was revealed in a statement by the National Intelligence Service (EYP) of Greece describing the case of a woman known as ‘Maria T.’.

EYP’s full statement follows:

“Maria T.”: A case of espionage uncovered by EYP.

Greece’s National Intelligence Service (EYP) has made an important disclosure of the modus operandi and infiltration techniques used by foreign intelligence services in Greece. More specifically, systematic investigations conducted by EYP, further to information it has collected, demonstrated that a female person under the name “ Maria T.” who in the past few years pretended to be Greek and worked as a photographer and owner of a craft and knitting supplies shop in Athens, with Greek citizenship and an identity card since 2018, is in reality the foreign national “ Irina A. S.” who has been operating in our country under “deep cover.”

The countdown towards her exposure started after the detection of a third country attempt to gain access to personal data of deceased Greek citizens, an internationally known and established practice the intelligence services of a specific foreign country use for the creation of a special category of spies called “illegals.”  

The aforementioned intelligence services recruit and train “Illegals” aiming at placing them in target countries, in order to carry out spying activity on behalf of their country. To protect their real identity, they operate under a “deep cover” which they create by falsifying personal documents and using stillbirth certificates or death certificates. From the moment of their settlement abroad the “illegals” live and act on the basis of the fabricated story created for them so as to shield their mission.

“Maria T.’s” profile and activity is a direct reference to the special category of “illegals”.

The case that has been just disclosed by EYP is a telling example of the way of thinking and acting of the specific foreign Services, since in order to engineer the identity and the profile of “T.” they have methodically worked for many years, skillfully exploiting people, procedures and institutions so that the third country citizen  “Irina” eventually lives and identifies as the Greek citizen “Maria” thus deceiving even her closest persons in Greece who were obviously unaware of her real identity.

It is clear that “T.’s” activity would not have been limited to Greek territory. Being an EU citizen she would have been able to travel and work in many European countries. That is why EYP’s success bears a dimension that goes beyond the national borders and touches western countries overall. [AMNA]