Prosecutors in Germany said on Thursday they had dropped their investigation into suspected phone tapping by British and US spies due to lack of evidence.<br /><br />The decision comes four years after whistle-blower Edward Snowden accused the US National Security Agency (NSA) of bugging Chancellor Angela Merkel’s private cell phone and massively spying on citizens of allied countries.<br /><br />Prosecutors in Karlsruhe said although the U.S. surveillance techniques were known to German intelligence agencies, there was no evidence of them being used to target Germany.<br /><br />Further allegations in 2015 suggested Germany’s foreign intelligence agency had even helped the NSA spy on European companies and politicians for years.<br /><br />The various claims had shocked Germans —surveillance being a particularly touchy subject for a nation that was spied on during the Nazi era and in Communist-ruled East Germany.<br />
