U.S. legislation enforcement officers have arrested two New York residents for allegedly working a Chinese language “secret police station” in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood, the highest federal prosecutor in Brooklyn mentioned in an announcement on Monday.

Liu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59, face costs of conspiring to behave as an agent of China’s authorities with out informing U.S. authorities, and obstruction of justice, prosecutors mentioned. They’re anticipated to look in federal court docket in Brooklyn federal court docket in a while Monday.

“This prosecution reveals the Chinese language authorities’s flagrant violation of our nation’s sovereignty by establishing a secret police station in the midst of New York Metropolis,” Breon Peace, the highest federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, mentioned in an announcement.

Prosecutors mentioned Lu in 2018 sought to influence a person thought-about a fugitive by China to return residence, prosecutors mentioned. That particular person reported being harassed and threatened, prosecutors mentioned.

China’s authorities in 2022 requested Lu to assist find a person dwelling in California thought-about a pro-democracy activist, prosecutors mentioned.

Prosecutors mentioned the pair had admitted to the FBI that they deleted their communications with a Chinese language authorities official after studying they had been underneath investigation.