British police officers pictured this month at the scene of a fatal terror attack in Manchester. On Thursday, London’s metro police arrested the three unidentified men on “suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service,” according to British authorities. File Photo by Adam Vaughan/EPA
British authorities on Thursday arrested three men suspected of spying for Russia, according to London’s Metropolitan Police.
Police in London arrested the three unidentified men — 48, 45 and 44 — under Britain’s 2023 National Security Act on “suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service,” authorities said.
“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 to efforts to disrupt this type of activity,” according to Commander Dominic Murphy, London’s counter terror chief.
On Thursday, the three were arrested at west and central London addresses on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service.
London’s Metro Police added that searches were “ongoing at these addresses as well as another” residence in west London.
Meanwhile, officials pointed to Russian influence.
The three suspects were arrested as part of a widening investigation by detectives in Counter Terrorism Policing London, which is a local branch of a broader nationwide counterterrorism unit.
The three suspected Russian spies remain in London police custody.
Murphy said anyone who “might be contacted by and tempted into carrying out criminal activity on behalf of a foreign state” in the British Isles should “think again.”
It followed the recent arrest of three other unidentified suspects accused of spying for communist Russia.
“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,” Murphy added in a statement.
