UK charges three with working for Hong Kong intelligence

World

The British police have charged three men with assisting Hong Kong’s foreign intelligence service.

The men were detained alongside several others during a series of raids across the United Kingdom last week, the police said on Monday. The operation is the latest in a spate of action against suspected Russian and Chinese spies across Europe.

They were set to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday to face charges filed under the National Security Act, passed last year to introduce new measures against espionage threats from foreign states.

“While these offences are concerning, I want to reassure the public that we do not believe there to be any wider threat to them,” Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, said in a statement.

The London police said 11 people had been detained earlier this month, most of them from Yorkshire, in northern England.

Those who were charged were Chi Leung Wai, 38, Matthew Trickett, 37, and Chung Biu Yuen, 63, all from southeast England.

Seven other men and one woman were not charged and were later released from custody.

Police said the investigation was ongoing, without providing any other details on the charges.

(Aljazeera)