British Police Arrest 3 Allegedly Helping Russian Intelligence

UNSPLASH/Krzysztof Hepner ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The British police arrested 3 men suspected of assisting foreign intelligence services suspected of being linked to Russia. The three men were 48, 45, and 44 years old were arrested at several locations in west London and centrally.

"The three locations and one other address are currently being searched," the police said, calling the anti-terrorism police leading the investigation.

"We are seeing more and more people who we refer to as 'proxies' recruited by foreign intelligence agencies, and these arrests are directly related to our ongoing efforts to stop this type of activity," said London Anti-terrorism Police Chief Dominic Murphy.

The arrests were made under the National Security Act passed in 2023, which allows prosecutors to try suspected spies in a wider situation.

The development on Thursday comes as six people were convicted of their role in the arson attack on Ukraine-linked businesses in eastern London last year, which prosecutors said was carried out on orders of Wagner's army group.

His leader, Dylan Earl, is the first to be convicted under the National Security Act.

The Kremlin has denied allegations of involvement in such sabotage, saying the British government has repeatedly blamed Russia for all the "bad" things that have happened in Britain.

"Last year, we and the police thwarted a series of surveillance plans with hostile intentions aimed at individuals deemed by Russian leaders as their enemies," said Ken McCallum, head of the MI5 intelligence agency last week.