Gay Porn Actor Says He Plotted Jihadist Attack Because He Was "Bored"
A former gay porn actor is on trial for trying to see secrets about the German government to Muslim extremists.
In April 2016, "Roque M." was hired by the domestic intelligence agency known as the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, or BfV. Six months later, though, he was charged with leaking secrets about the country's counterterror plans to help terrorists blow up BfV headquarters.
News of his arrest sparked nationwide headlines, with the country questioning how a national security organization could unwittingly hire a jihadist. But last week in a Düsseldorf courtroom, the 52-year-old said he told a reputed radical Muslim group "an attack on the headquarters would be in line with Allah's will" simply because he was bored.
Logging onto a jihadi chat room was "an escape from reality," insisted Roque, a father of four who spends weekends caring for a disabled son. He insists never intended to go through with any plot: "I never met with any Islamists. I would never do that. The whole thing was like a game."
Roque, who converted to Islam two years ago, passed a security check and received recommendations from previous supervisors.
He had many lives, it turns out: Besides working as an adult-movie actor and government agent, Roque was a banker, and actually got into the spy game when he thought he might be laid off from the bank. He also sports a giant tattoo on his chest of Che Guevara, a personal hero. The Washington Post reports his contacts at BvF worried Roque might have a multiple personality disorder.
According to prosecutors, he planned to give Islamists access to the BvF offices in Cologne, and intedned to have an in-person meeting at a gym. But his activity was uncovered when he offered to share secrets with an undercover molehunter.
Roque faces up to a decade in prison if convicted. His is just the latest terror case in Germany: In December, a truck driven by a Tunisian extremist was rammed a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12. ISIS later claimed responsibility for the assault, as well as ax attacks and suicide bombings in Bavaria.
