NEWS – “without comment”
Security professionals are encouraged to be vigilant and to ensure that they do robust due diligence on their clients.
The services security professionals offer may be attractive to state actors looking to undertake malign activity in the UK.
Security professionals may be at risk of committing an offence under the 2023 legislation if they work for clients without establishing who they are and whether they are linked to a foreign power.
Published 20 January 2025
Two men found guilty of spying on Hong Kong dissidents in UK for China
By Reuters
May 8, 2026
Two men, including a British immigration officer, were found guilty in a London court on Thursday of spying on behalf of Hong Kong and ultimately China, targeting prominent pro-democracy dissidents now based in Britain.
Chung Biu “Bill” Yuen, 65, and Chi Leung “Peter” Wai, 40, who worked for the UK Border Force, were convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service by carrying out surveillance on targets between December 2023 and May 2024.
The men, both dual Chinese and British nationals, had denied the accusations, while the Chinese embassy in London has accused Britain of fabricating the charges against them.
They are believed to be the first people to have been convicted of spying for China in Britain, local media reported. Wai and Yuen will be sentenced at a later date and face up to 14 years in jail.
The jury at London’s Old Bailey court was unable to reach a verdict on another charge of conducting “foreign interference” by forcing entry on behalf of Hong Kong authorities into the home in northern England of a woman who has been accused of fraud in the city.
Ties strained
Relations between Britain and China have been strained since a national security crackdown on sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019 in Hong Kong, which was under British rule for 156 years before reverting to Chinese sovereignty almost three decades ago.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited China in January, but repeated accusations of espionage activities have proved a stumbling block in attempts to improve bilateral ties.
Following Thursday’s convictions, security minister Dan Jarvis said Britain would continue to hold China to account and challenge them for any actions which put Britons’ safety at risk.
The Chinese ambassador would be summoned “to make it clear activity like this was, and will always be, unacceptable on UK soil,” Jarvis added.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson told jurors that Yuen and Wai had been tasked to carry out “shadow policing operations” for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and ultimately China.
Yuen was a retired Hong Kong police officer who worked at Hong Kong’s Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in London, while Wai, as well as working for the immigration force was also a volunteer officer for the City of London Police.
Wai was convicted of misusing his Border Force job to search the interior ministry’s computer database and gain access to details of foreign nationals.
Atkinson said the men’s operation involved spying on dissident’s resident in Britain, including activist Nathan Law, for whom the Hong Kong government had issued bounties of HK$1 million ($127,700) for information leading to their whereabouts or capture.
Messages between Yuen, Wai and others showed them discussing plans to target activists, who were referred to as “cockroaches,” and carrying out surveillance on British political figures.
“For years, members of the Hong Kong diaspora in the United Kingdom have lived in fear,” Finn Lau, one of the targeted activists, said in a statement. “Today’s conviction confirms that fear was not paranoia. It was real.”
A third man who was accused of the same offenses as Yuen and Wai was found dead not long after the trio were charged. Matthew Trickett, 37, a former British Royal Marine, had worked as an immigration officer and private investigator. His death was not considered suspicious.
Last November, Britain’s MI5 security service warned lawmakers that Chinese agents were trying to collect information and influence activity at Westminster.
On the day Yuen and Wai’s trial started in March, British police said they had arrested three men on suspicion of assisting China’s foreign intelligence service, including the partner of a sitting lawmaker.
Britain approved in January China’s plans to build Beijing’s largest embassy in Europe in London, leading critics to accuse Starmer of prioritizing economic ties over security risks, although UK security officials said these could be mitigated.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/07/europe/uk-china-hong-kong-spying-hnk-intl
MET POLICE NEWS
7 May 2026
Two men convicted of National Security Act offences
Two men have been convicted of National Security Act offences after an investigation by Counter Terrorism Policing found they were illegally gathering information for the benefit of Hong Kong and Chinese authorities.
This was disrupted when police arrested a group of people who were carrying out activity targeting a woman based in Pontefract, who was being accused by her former employer in Hong Kong of fraud.
Commander Helen Flanagan, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, which led the investigation said: “The activity by Wai and Yuen was both sinister and chilling. Our investigation found they were spying for the Hong Kong authorities, targeting UK-based pro-democracy campaigners.
“It is completely unacceptable for anyone to carry out this kind of activity on behalf of a foreign state here in the UK. I hope this outcome provides reassurance to those living in the UK who may be concerned about being targeted by any foreign state, that we will do everything we can to help keep them safe.”
Chi Leung (Peter) Wai, 40, (17.06.1985) of Staines-upon-Thames and Chung Biu Yuen, 65, (02.06.60) of Hackney were found guilty at the Old Bailey on 7 May of assisting a foreign intelligence service, which is an offence under the National Security Act (NSA), 2023. The jury could not reach a verdict on charges against both men of foreign interference – also under the NSA, 2023.
In addition, Wai was also found guilty of misconduct in public office – relating to the misuse of Home Office systems he accessed while working as an officer in Border Force.
On 1 May, 2024 police arrested nine people at a flat in Pontefract, West Yorkshire. They were arrested after breaking into the property, which belonged to a woman who moved to the UK from Hong Kong in 2023.
The woman had been accused of fraud by her former employer in Hong Kong, although the woman denied this and said that she had been set up. A group of people, which included her former boss, along with Wai, a man called Matthew Trickett and two former Hong Kong police officers travelled to the flat the day before to try and locate the woman.
They attempted to get her to open the door by pretending to be maintenance workers, and even poured water underneath her door, stating that she needed to let them in because of a water leak.
After there was no response, the group decided to force entry into the flat themselves. However, shortly after the entering the property, Counter Terrorism Police officers – who were carrying out their own investigation into the group – arrived and they were arrested. Yuen, who had been keeping in contact with the group from London was also arrested and Wai, Yuen and Trickett were subsequently charged. The others were released while the investigation continued.
The subsequent investigation centred around the analysis of messages between Wai, Yuen and Trickett, as well as some of the others who were arrested in Pontefract. Through forensic examination of their digital devices, detectives were able to piece together how Yuen, in his role as an office manager at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO), was in contact with individuals linked to the Hong Kong authorities. Yuen was then then tasking Wai with spying and surveillance activities focusing on UK-based pro-democracy campaigners.
Detectives also found evidence that Wai had been exploiting his position as a Border Force officer, finding several examples of where he accessed the files of several Chinese and Hong Kong nationals in the UK.
Although Wai claimed he was simply carrying out legitimate private security work linked to some of these individuals, evidence from Trickett’s phone showed there was a clear awareness by Wai and Trickett of the significance of the people they were targeting and the links back to the Hong Kong authorities. Messages on Trickett’s phone also showed that Yuen was making payments to the pair – despite Yuen claiming that he was not involved in what they were doing.
Detectives found evidence that showed how requests from Hong Kong were coming into Yuen and then being onward-tasked to Wai and Trickett to carry out. This included a request from Hong Kong to Yuen for information about a specific individual. The same person’s details were then passed from Yuen to Wai and officers found evidence of Wai carrying out illicit checks on Home Office systems for that same person.
Following authorisation from the CPS, Yuen, Wai and Trickett were all charged on 12 May, 2024. However, after he was charged and released on bail, Mr Trickett was found deceased in a park in Maidenhead on 19 May, 2024. An inquest into Mr Trickett’s death is expected to take place following the conclusion of these current criminal proceedings.
Commander Flanagan added: “This investigation was incredibly complex, with over 20 terabytes of data to trawl through, including thousands of messages and information in multiple languages. But despite significant challenges, we were able to show how Yuen and Wai were working with each other and that they were clearly aware this was for the benefit of the Hong Kong authorities to spy on pro-democracy campaigners here in the UK.
“This case should serve as a stark warning to anyone who might be involved in any private investigation work, that you must be very sure this is not being done for the benefit of a foreign state. If and where that happens, then you will likely face investigation, arrest and potential prosecution under the National Security Act. And if you are convicted, then like Wai and Yuen, you will be facing extremely serious consequences.”
Yuen and Wai are both due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on a date to be confirmed.
https://news.met.police.uk/news/two-men-convicted-of-national-security-act-offences-509120
REMINDER – NEWS – “without comment” published April 2025
U.K WARNING:
National Security Act 2023
FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS & THEIR AGENCIES:
The Home Office has published new guidance to support the security industry, including but not limited to those who work in private investigation, close protection, or advise on corporate security and risk, to understand where they may be at risk of committing an offence under the National Security Act 2023.
This guidance has been issued on GOV.UK to ensure it is available to all security professionals and representative bodies. You can find the guidance here
Posted by: Ian (D. Withers)
www.WAPI.org
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