50-year-old Abraham Teklu Lemma, who was a U.S. government contractor, has been arrested and charged with espionage after leaking national defense information to an African country.
Lemma was working as an IT help desk technician when he transferred classified defense intelligence, including satellite images, maps, and notes to an intelligence official in Africa.
Lemma is a naturalized U.S. citizen of Ethiopian descent from Silver Spring, Maryland.
Ethiopia-Born US Contractor Arrested on Espionage Charges
Abraham Teklu Lemma, a naturalized US citizen, transmitted classified information to an official associated with #Ethiopia’s intelligence service, inc satellite imagery and info related to #Eritrean activities in #Tigray. pic.twitter.com/KANXulr6ap
— Yonas Nigussie (@Yonigussie) September 23, 2023
U.S. officials did not specify where the documents were sent, but it’s suspected to be Ethiopia.
Lemma faces the death penalty or up to life in prison. The minimum sentence is ten years.
According to the affidavit, Lemma copied, removed, and retained secret and top-secret information from at least 85 intelligence reports.
Lemma and the foreign official discussed reports on military activities.
13 things about Abraham Teklu Lemma, who spied for Abiy Ahmed. According to @conan_daily, here are 13 things this foolish dude did.
I would ask @conan_daily to do more investigative work to assess how this man may worked with diaspora organizations like the Oromo Studies… pic.twitter.com/Q3Nchgm1zq
— Amoraw (@amorawwub) September 22, 2023
