A Hong Kong trade official working in London has appeared in court alongside border force and immigration officials accused of surveillance, surveillance and harassment of British democracy activists.
Mr Chong Biu Yuen, 63, Mr Chee Leung “Peter” Wai, 38, and Mr Matthew Trickett, 37, illegally supported Hong Kong intelligence services and He has been charged with engaging in foreign interference, including forcing entry into his residence.
Yuen, who lives in Dalston, east London, works as executive director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Board, which is responsible for trade and investment on behalf of the former British colony, now a semi-autonomous region of China.
Wai, who has dual Chinese and British nationality, works for Border Force at Heathrow Airport. He is a special constable for the City of London and the founder of private security company D5. Its website says he has “over 20 years’ experience in the British military, police and private security sectors”.
Mr Trickett, an immigration officer at the Home Office, also runs a private security consultancy. His profile on LinkedIn lists him as a former Royal Marines commando.
At an initial hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday, the three spoke only to confirm their names, ages and addresses.
All three individuals committed unlawful intelligence gathering, surveillance and deception between 20 December 2023 and 2 May 2024, contrary to section 3(1) and (9) of the National Security Act 2023. was charged with engaging in.
Also, contrary to Articles 13(2) and 13(2), they were reckless as to whether the prohibited conduct, or the course of conduct forming part of it, would have an interfering effect; He is also accused of forcing his way into a residential address in the UK on May 1st. (7) of the law.
At least 140,000 people have moved to the UK from Hong Kong since February 2021, when new visa rules allowed British national (overseas) passport holders to live and work in the UK.
This follows the passage of new national security laws in Hong Kong and a crackdown on the territory, which Britain claims violates freedom guarantees set out by China when it resumed rule in 1997. did.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee on Tuesday called on British authorities to provide full information on the arrests of three men, including Yuen, who appeared with Lee in a 2002 graduation photo. He admitted that they were classmates at university. .
The Chinese embassy in the UK said that prosecutors had made “unwarranted accusations” against the Hong Kong government, and that it had responded by making a “solemn representation” to the British embassy on the matter.
There was also a response from the Chinese Foreign Affairs Commission Office in Hong Kong. He “strongly condemned” Britain for “fabricating the accusations” and accused it of “malicious intentions to interfere” in Hong Kong affairs.
The agency also warned that the UK would be subject to “firm and strong retaliation from China”.
After a short hearing during Monday’s lunch break, the three were granted bail by District Judge Luisa Cieciola. They are required to report to local police stations weekly, are subject to a curfew from 10pm to 5am, and are prohibited from traveling abroad.
They will next appear at the Old Bailey on May 24th.
The three were originally detained as part of a larger operation in which 11 people were arrested earlier this month. According to the Met Office, eight men and one woman were arrested by police in Yorkshire on May 1, one man was arrested in London and another in Yorkshire the following day.
Seven men and one woman, who were not charged, were released from custody by May 10.
Commander Dominic Murphy, the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism commander, said: “While these crimes are alarming, we want to reassure the public that we do not believe there is a broader threat to them. This investigation is ongoing and no charges have been filed. We ask that you please refrain from any further speculation or comment regarding this incident.”
The National Security Act came into force on December 20 last year, updating and amending the UK’s Espionage Act, which includes the Official Secrets Act, which dates back to 1911.
