Shortly after arresting two men in the United States on conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has uncovered a piece of evidence in one of the men’s possession that appears to be linked to a suspected secret Chinese police service station located in Canada, according to a report.
Lu Jianwang and Chen Jinping were both arrested by the FBI on April 17 on charges of obstruction of justice and operating a secret police service station in New York City on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Prosecutors alleged that both Lu and Chen acted on orders from the CCP to track down and silence Chinese dissidents living in the U.S. while operating out of an overseas Chinese police station called the “Fuzhou Police Overseas Service Station,” located inside the America ChangLe Association building in Lower Manhattan.
The presence of the covert police station found in New York City echoes similar suspicions in Canada as the RCMP investigates a number of locations across the country suspected of being secret Chinese police stations.
The issue first came to light after the Spain-based NGO Safeguard Defenders said in two reports released last year that it was aware of five unofficial Chinese police stations operating in Canada.
Now, following Lu and Chen’s arrest by the FBI, a document recently filed in a Brooklyn federal court says that Lu’s smartphone contained a photograph of ceremonies commemorating the opening of Chinese overseas police stations in five countries, including one in Canada, according to the Globe and Mail.
The RCMP told The Epoch Times that it is “actively investigating reports nationally of criminal activity” relating to the suspected Chinese police stations in Canada, but did not provide comment on the photographic link to the stations found in the FBI’s arrest.
“The RCMP has strong relationships with Canada’s security and intelligence community and law enforcement agencies around the world,” said RCMP spokesperson Robin Percival, adding that the federal police work “closely with our Five Eyes partners to respond to and maintain situational awareness of all threats to national security.”
Police Stations in Canada
In March, Michael Duheme, the RCMP’s then-deputy commissioner of federal policing and now its interim commissioner, told a parliamentary committee that operations at four of the overseas Chinese police stations had ceased, but said police have not laid any criminal charges in relation to the issue.The update came after former RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki told a House of Commons committee in February that federal police had carried out a “disruption” at four of the stations in Canada by sending uniformed officers in marked police cars “to speak with the people involved in those police stations.”
The RCMP also said in March that it was investigating two “presumed Chinese police stations” in the Montreal area after receiving over a dozen “serious tips” about them.
At the time, police said they were analyzing the tips and looking for more. The RCMP told The Epoch Times earlier this month that there had been no updates to the investigation since then.
Andrew Thornebrooke, Eva Fu, and Noé Chartier contributed to this report.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include the RCMP’s response.
