Wednesday, October 27, 2010

FROLIK, JOZEF

A Czech Statni Bezpecnost (StB) officer who defected to England in 1968, Frolik identified as spies several of his former contacts, from when he had been based in London under labor attaché  cover, among them three members of Parliament—Sir Barnett Stross, Will Owen, and John Stonehouse—and trade union leaders Jack Jones and Ted Hill. He also named Nicholas Prager, a former Royal Air Force radar technician, as a valuable agent codenamed  MARCONI, and Prager was convicted and sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment. Frolik was resettled in the United States but returned to Great Britain to give evidence against Owen, who was acquitted of having breached the Official Secrets Act, but later made a private confession of his espionage.