London [UK], May 13 : The UK police have charged three men for assisting Hong Kong's foreign intelligence service. The men who have been detained alongside several others during raids conducted across the UK last week, Al Jazeera reported, citing police, Al Jazeera reported.
This development is the latest in a series of actions taken against suspected Russian and Chinese spies across Europe. They were scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Monday to face charges registered under the National Security Act, passed in 2023 to introduce new measures against espionage threats from foreign states.
In a statement, Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, said, "While these offences are concerning, I want to reassure the public that we do not believe there to be any wider threat to them," according to Al Jazeera report.
The London police said 11 people had been detained earlier this month, the majority of them from Yorkshire, in northern England. Those who were charged were Matthew Trickett (37), Chung Biu Yuen (63) and Chi Leung Wai (38) from southeast England.
Seven other men and one woman were not charged and were later released from custody. Police said that the investigation was being conducted, however, details were not given regarding the charges, Al Jazeera reported.
The arrests come as concerns rise across Europe over intelligence operations related to China and Russia. Earlier in April, the two people suspected of providing "prejudicial information" to Beijing were arrested, the report said.
On the same day, German police said that they had charged three citizens with handing technologies with potential military purposes to Chinese intelligence, with whom they have been accused of working since at least June 2022.
Germany also arrested an aide to a far-right member of the European Parliament on suspicion of spying for Beijing. On Monday, the UK police said that the charges against three people over their work for Hong Kong intelligence are not related to an ongoing probe involving Russia, which was also carried out under the National Security Act.
Last week, the UK government said that it was expelling a Russian defence attache for spying, amid several measures aimed at targeting Moscow's intelligence-gathering operations in the UK, Al Jazeera reported.
UK Home Secretary James Cleverly said the measures were aimed at the "reckless and dangerous activities of the Russian government across Europe."
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