Secret agents force Spanish spy chief to quit

Spain's spy chief, Alberto Saiz, has been forced to resign after his own agents turned on him, employing the tricks of the trade to overthrow their boss at the country's National Intelligence Centre (CNI).

In a constant flow of black propaganda over several months, disgruntled agents leaked photographs of Saiz's exotic fishing and hunting outings during business trips abroad and claimed that he even used the agency's divers to clean his swimming pool.

"Every time he goes abroad to work he takes his rifle or shotgun and takes days off to go hunting at the taxpayers' expense. Everything is free," an anonymous agency source told El Mundo newspaper.

Sources within the agency also alleged that night-time hunts for African pigs in Mali, fishing expeditions off Senegal, and underwater fishing in Mexico were all paid for with taxpayers' money. El Mundo reported Saiz used government funds to pay for at least six trips and sometimes flew in an air force jet.

The newspaper also alleged that CNI employees were called in to redecorate Saiz's house and that the agency was forced to buy potatoes off one of his relatives. More