THREE men have been charged with assisting the Hong Kong intelligence service.

Chi Leung (Peter) Wai, 38, Matthew Trickett, 37, and Chung Biu Yuen, 63, who are also accused of foreign interference, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

They were charged with the offences under the National Security Act following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command which saw a total of 11 people arrested.

The Metropolitan Police said eight men and a woman were arrested by officers on May 1 in Yorkshire.

A man was arrested in London and another man was arrested in Yorkshire the following day.

The seven men and one woman who were not charged were released from custody on or before May 10.

Wai, of Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, Trickett, of Maidenhead, and Yuen, of Hackney, are next due to appear at the Old Bailey on May 24.

The charges against them allege that between December 20, 2023, and May 2, 2024, the three men agreed to undertake information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception that were likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service.

It is also alleged that on May 1, 2024, they forced entry into a UK residential address, being reckless as to whether the prohibited conduct, or course of conduct of which it forms part, would have an interference effect.

The Metropolitan Police was unable to tell the Telegraph & Argus which areas of Yorkshire the arrests took place.