On March 13, the Old Bailey court in London sentenced two men holding dual Chinese and British citizenship for espionage, including monitoring pro-democracy activists living in exile in the UK. Specifically, Chung Biu “Bill” Yuen, 66, and Chi Leung “Peter” Wai, 41, a former UK Border Force employee, were convicted last month and formally sentenced on March 13.
Yuen received an 8-year prison sentence, while Wai was given 10 years. Wai was also found guilty of abusing his position to search the Home Office computer database for information on targets. Both were charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service by conducting surveillance on targets from December 2023 to May 2024.
Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb noted: “Modern foreign intelligence activity is not limited to traditional espionage against military or government secrets. It can include surveillance, information gathering, intimidation, and targeting dissidents and those who have sought the protection of this country’s laws.”
According to London counterterrorism police, the two were arrested after a failed attempt to abduct Monica Kwong, a former Hong Kong resident, from her apartment in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, on May 1, 2024.
The Chinese embassy in London rejected the allegations, calling the case “a political act of abusing the law.” Both Yuen and Wai denied the charges.
