UK police arrest three on suspicion of assisting Russian intelligence

LONDON: Three men in their forties were arrested in London on Thursday (Oct 23) on suspicion of assisting Russian intelligence services, UK police said.

The men are in custody and face questioning by counter terror police over alleged offences under the National Security Act, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

The trio, aged 48, 45 and 44, were arrested in west and central London. Searches were ongoing at these addresses as well as another location, the Met added.

"We're seeing an increasing number of who we would describe as 'proxies' being recruited by foreign intelligence services and these arrests are directly related to our ongoing efforts to disrupt this type of activity," said Dominic Murphy, head of the Met's counter terrorism squad.

"Anyone who might be contacted by and tempted into carrying out criminal activity on behalf of a foreign state here in the UK should think again

"This kind of activity will be investigated and anyone found to be involved can expect to be prosecuted and there are potentially very serious consequences for those who are convicted," he added.

Last week, Ken McCallum, the head of the UK's domestic intelligence agency MI5 warned that Russia, China and Iran had fuelled a dramatic rise in the threats to the UK from foreign states.

He said agents were "routinely" uncovering plots from foreign states to carry out surveillance, sabotage, arson or acts of physical violence in the UK.

Last month, prosecutors dropped a high-profile case in which two British men were accused of spying for China.

The collapse triggered a political row that saw Prime Minister Keir Starmer publish government testimony to combat allegations that officials tried to sink the case to protect relations with China.