Heathrow Border Force official and former Royal Marine accused of spying for Hong Kong
A Border Force officer has appeared in court along with a former Royal Marine and a Hong Kong trade official, charged with spying on pro-democracy activists living in the UK.
Chi Leung Wai, 38, known also as Peter Wai, from Staines, Surrey, is based with the UK Border Force at Heathrow airport.
Wai, who has joint British and Chinese nationality, is also a special constable with the City of London Police, while also founding a company called D5 security. On D5’s website, Wai boasts of “having over 20 years’ experience in the British military, police and private security sector”.
He was charged alongside two others. Chung Biu Yuen, 63, known also as Billy Yuen, from Dalston, east London, is a retired Hong Kong police officer who works as office manager for the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in central London.
The third man charged is Matthew Trickett, 37, from Maidenhead, is a former Royal Marine Commando, who served between 2007 and 2013, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Trickett is listed as the sole director of MTR Consultancy, and describes himself as a security consultant. He was also formerly employed by the UK Border Force at Heathrow before joining Home Office Immigration Enforcement in February this year. He is also the director of MTR Consultancy, a security consultancy formed in April 2021.
The charges allege that the three men “assisted a foreign intelligence service” — confirmed to be that of Hong Kong — by agreeing to undertake “information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception, that was likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service carrying out UK-related activities” between December 20 and May 2.
The second charge of foreign interference concerns the trio allegedly forcing entry into a UK residential address on May 1.
The three men all appeared in standard-issued grey jumpers.
District Judge Louisa Cieciora said they must abide by conditions including a 10pm to 5am curfew, reporting weekly to their local police station, not travelling internationally and informing police of devices used to access the internet.
They were charged with the offences under the National Security Act following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command which saw 11 people arrested.
Eight men and a woman were arrested by officers on May 1 in the Yorkshire area before a man was arrested in London and another man was arrested in the Yorkshire area the following day, the Metropolitan Police said.
The seven men and one woman who were not charged were released from custody on or before May 10.
