Two men were arrested on Tuesday and charged with setting up a secret police station on behalf of the Chinese government, the latest in a string of prosecutions aimed at disrupting Beijing's attempts to punish dissidents living overseas.
The arrests on Tuesday morning came after the secret station was uncovered by an FBI investigation and hastily shut down last autumn to avoid scrutiny.
While the office did perform some basic functions for Chinese citizens, such as helping them renew drivers licenses, the FBI believe its primary function was to track dissidents living outside of China, including a pro-democracy activist of Chinese descent living in California. US Attorney Breon Peace, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, told a press conference that New York had no room for foreign police forces."We don't need or want a secret police station in our great city."
"The defendants were directed to do the PRC's bidding, including helping locate a Chinese dissident living in the United States, and obstructed our investigation by deleting their communications with a Chinese Ministry of Public Security official," it said. "Clandestine police stations operating within our communities are not only illegal but infringe on the United States' freedom," he said.In addition to the arrests, authorities also announced they were charging 34 officers in the Chinese Ministry of Public Security with creating and using fake social media accounts to harass dissidents abroad.
Authorities also revealed they had charged 34 members of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security with using social media to harass and intimidate dissidents living in the US. Picture: Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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