The FBI has announced they arrested two New York residents for allegedly operating a Chinese “secret police station” in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood.
“This prosecution reveals the Chinese government’s flagrant violation of our nation’s sovereignty by establishing a secret police station in the middle of New York City,” Breon Peace, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, said in a statement.
Lu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59, face charges of conspiring to act as an agent of China’s government by spearheading an operation to spy on dissidents, and obstruction of justice, prosecutors said. Lu lives in the Bronx and maintains a residence in China. Mr. Chen lives in Manhattan. Both men are U.S. citizens.
The pair is expected to appear in federal court in Brooklyn federal court later Monday.
Prosecutors say China’s government asked Lu to help locate an individual living in California considered a pro-democracy activist in 2022. They also said the pair had admitted to severing their Chinese government contacts when they learned they were under investigation.
If convicted, the pair could face up to 25 years in prison.
