Two people have been arrested by the FBI on allegations they helped operate an illegal police station for the government of China in lower Manhattan.
The two are charged with conspiring to act as agents for the Chinese government. The FBI said “Harry” Lu Jianwang, 61, of the Bronx, and Chen Jinping, 59, of Manhattan, were arrested Monday morning at their homes in New York City.
"The defendants worked together to establish the first overseas police station in the United States on behalf of the Fuzhou branch of the (Ministry of Public Security)," the FBI said in a statement.
In addition to the New York complaint, two other complaints were filed - one against 34 members of Beijing's Municipal Public Security Bureau, and another against a group of 10 people that includes eight Chinese government officials.
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The common thread in the three complaints - that the suspects allegedly worked to intimidate, harass and threaten "wanted" Chinese nationals inside the United States.
Last November, the FBI said it was aware that China was operating a de facto police station in Manhattan, outside of proper procedure or authority, as part of global network of such outposts. It followed a Sept. 2022 investigation by a nongovernmental organization, Safeguard Defenders, which reported there were dozens of such centers worldwide conducting police operations.
Chinese officials decried that characterization, saying the "service centers" were volunteer-run and had nothing to do with policing. But the New York Times reported in January that Chinese state media had explicitly described the centers as policing facilities, acting in other countries without collaborating with local authorities. The Times also reported that the FBI had searched the East Broadway facility in the fall of 2022.
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"This case serves as a powerful reminder that the People’s Republic of China will stop at nothing to bend people to their will and silence messages they don’t want anyone to hear," Kurt Ronnow, acting assistant director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division, said in a statement.
