Berlin plays down security gaps after agent arrest

The German government insisted on Wednesday that security measures at its domestic intelligence agency were sound after an agent was unmasked as a suspected Islamist.

An interior ministry spokesperson rejected calls for a procedural overhaul at the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany's internal security watchdog.

The agency said on Tuesday that the unnamed 51-year-old German national, who converted to Islam in 2014, had "made Islamist remarks online under a false name and had offered internal information during online chats".

His chat partner was believed to be another BfV employee.