The suspect, named only as Yaqi X., is "strongly suspected of acting as an intelligence agent for a Chinese secret service," federal prosecutors said in a statement.

Yaqi X. worked for a company that provides logistics services, including at Leipzig/Halle Airport in eastern Germany, they said.

She allegedly used her position to gather information on "the transport of military equipment and persons with connections to a German arms company".

Between mid-2023 and February this year, she "repeatedly sent information on flights, cargo and passengers at the airport to an employee of a Chinese secret service -- namely Jian G., who is being prosecuted separately".

Jian G. was arrested in April on suspicion of spying while working in the Brussels office of German MEP Maximilian Krah of the far-right Alternative for Germany party.

The woman, arrested on Monday, was brought before an investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice who served her with the arrest warrant and ordered her to be remanded in custody.