[pluma]

Yes, I'm fairly certain that the BKA being involved would have been a far greater scandal. The BND is well known to act above the law because of a total lack of accountability. The BKA is just the federal police.

To put it in terms foreigners might be able to relate to:

BND = CIA

BKA = FBI

BfV (Verfassungsschutz) = NSA

The BND is the German intelligence service and primarily tracks threats outside Germany. The BKA mostly just coordinates investigations at the national level (it's a lot more hands-off than the FBI). The Verfassungsschutz monitors domestic threats.

The Verfassungsschutz also infamously completely missed the existence of the far-right NSU terrorists who happily comitted a number of attacks and bombings which went unnoticed because of victim-blaming ("A Turkish fast food joint was bombed? Must have gotten involved with the Turkish mafia."). The Verfassungsschutz also later interfered in an investigation against itself by accidentally destroying evidence.

So if you still have difficulties telling them apart:

BND = unaccountable spies

BKA = federal police that doesn't really do much policing

Verfassungsschutz = really bad at hunting nazis