Spies seize retreating councillor roughly (5)

I believe the answer is:

circa

'roughly' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

I can't explain the rest of the clue.

(Other definitions for circa that I've seen before include "About (a time)" , "More or less" , "Preposition meaning about, usually preceding a date" , "(Especially of a date) approximately" , "Around (Latin)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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