The man arrested in a Gelderland village earlier this year on charges of breaking Russian sanctions was trying to supply microchips and drones to Russia under the cover of an office supplies shop, the AD said on Thursday afternoon.

Dimitri K, 55, was arrested in September after an investigation involving the Dutch finance ministry and Europol. The probe had been sparked following a report by an un-named bank to the financial intelligence unit FIU.

According to the AD, in May, shortly after sanctions were introduced, K officially changed his shop from a radio and electronics specialist to trading in paper and other office supplies.

In reality, however, he continued to sell microchips, using a company in the Maledives as a cover. Between June and September, he falsified eight invoices, the public prosecution department told a preliminary court hearing.

The microchips and other hardware ended up with a Moscow-based company which did business with high tech firm Rostec, which in turn supplies the weapons industry, the AD quoted the department as saying. He also tried to ship drones to Russia, ‘the same type as those used by the Russian army’, the spokeswoman said.

K’s lawyer Christian Visser told the court that there is no evidence his client’s products had ended up with the Russian army. Nor is €2 million worth of goods involved, as the prosecutor claimed, he said. In addition, Visser said, K had changed the name of his shop because another company had a similar name.

K is a dual Russian Dutch national and has lived in the Netherlands for 30 years. Judges on Thursday agreed to release him from custody pending the full trial.

The Dutch military security service MIVD warned at the end of October Russia was using front companies in an effort to obtain western technology.