UK immigration officer among two men guilty of working for Chinese intelligence
cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/8802473
> A UK immigration officer has been found guilty of working for Chinese intelligence as part of a "shadow policing operation".
>
> Chi Leung "Peter" Wai, 40, used his access to the Home Office computer system to track Hong Kong dissidents based in the UK through the main immigration database.
>
> He was found guilty under the National Security Act of assisting a foreign intelligence service alongside Chung Biu "Bill" Yuen, 65, who was initially his contact with the Hong Kong authorities. Wai was also found guilty of misconduct in public office.
>
> Chinese ambassador Zheng Zeguang will be summoned by the Foreign Office after the two men were found guilty.
>
> Security Minister Dan Jarvis said the men's activities were "an infringement of our sovereignty and will never be tolerated".
>
> "We will continue to hold China to account and challenge them directly for actions which put the safety of people in our country at risk," he added.
>
> ...
>
> Wai started working as a Border Force officer at Heathrow Airport in December 2020, which gave him access to a vast database of information about foreign nationals in the UK.
>
> He searched it on his days off and sick days, earning money on the side by tracking Hong Kongers who had fled pro-democracy crackdowns for his Chinese contacts. There seems to have been no checks on his access to the database to prevent him doing this.
>
> But he had been providing information on dissidents before then, referring to them in messages as "cockroaches".
>
> Yuen became his contact with Chinese authorities. A former Hong Kong police officer, he worked as the office manager of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in London.
>
> ...
>
> The court also heard "special attention" was paid to British politicians, such as Conservative MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith.
>
> Head of Counter Terrorism Policing London Cdr Helen Flanagan said the pair's activity had been "both sinister and chilling".
>
> Wai also drew a fellow Border Force officer, an ex-Royal Marine called Matthew Trickett, into his surveillance of Hong Kong dissidents, the court heard.
>
> Trickett was found dead in a suspected suicide soon after they were caught by counter-terrorism police.
>
> ...
> A UK immigration officer has been found guilty of working for Chinese intelligence as part of a "shadow policing operation".
>
> Chi Leung "Peter" Wai, 40, used his access to the Home Office computer system to track Hong Kong dissidents based in the UK through the main immigration database.
>
> He was found guilty under the National Security Act of assisting a foreign intelligence service alongside Chung Biu "Bill" Yuen, 65, who was initially his contact with the Hong Kong authorities. Wai was also found guilty of misconduct in public office.
>
> Chinese ambassador Zheng Zeguang will be summoned by the Foreign Office after the two men were found guilty.
>
> Security Minister Dan Jarvis said the men's activities were "an infringement of our sovereignty and will never be tolerated".
>
> "We will continue to hold China to account and challenge them directly for actions which put the safety of people in our country at risk," he added.
>
> ...
>
> Wai started working as a Border Force officer at Heathrow Airport in December 2020, which gave him access to a vast database of information about foreign nationals in the UK.
>
> He searched it on his days off and sick days, earning money on the side by tracking Hong Kongers who had fled pro-democracy crackdowns for his Chinese contacts. There seems to have been no checks on his access to the database to prevent him doing this.
>
> But he had been providing information on dissidents before then, referring to them in messages as "cockroaches".
>
> Yuen became his contact with Chinese authorities. A former Hong Kong police officer, he worked as the office manager of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in London.
>
> ...
>
> The court also heard "special attention" was paid to British politicians, such as Conservative MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith.
>
> Head of Counter Terrorism Policing London Cdr Helen Flanagan said the pair's activity had been "both sinister and chilling".
>
> Wai also drew a fellow Border Force officer, an ex-Royal Marine called Matthew Trickett, into his surveillance of Hong Kong dissidents, the court heard.
>
> Trickett was found dead in a suspected suicide soon after they were caught by counter-terrorism police.
>
> ...