Three individuals have been arrested in the United Kingdom on suspicion of spying on behalf of Russia, the Metropolitan Police confirmed.
A 41-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman were detained at an address in Grays, Essex, while a 46-year-old man was arrested at a separate location in the same area. All three were held on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service, under Section 3 of the National Security Act 2023, and were taken to a London police station.
Officers conducted searches at both Essex addresses. The three individuals have since been released on bail, while investigations remain ongoing.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter-Terrorism Command, noted a rising number of individuals in the UK being recruited by foreign intelligence services.
Last year, MI5 chief Sir Ken McCallum warned that “Russian state actors” were increasingly relying on private intelligence operatives and criminals in the UK and abroad. He added that the GRU (Russian military intelligence) continues a campaign to create chaos across Britain and Europe, including arson, sabotage, and other attacks.
Authorities clarified that the Wednesday arrests are not linked to a separate case in which a group of men, recruited by the Russian Wagner mercenary group, carried out an arson attack on a warehouse connected to Ukraine in London.
The Wagner Group, a private military organization operating on behalf of the Russian state, was declared a terrorist organization in the UK in September 2023, according to BBC reports.
