First case after UK National Security Act takes effect: Chinese-born ex-police officer convicted of abusing Home Office database for intelligence gathering for China and Hong Kong
In the first conviction under the UK's National Security Act, a former Hong Kong police officer and a former UK police officer were found guilty of intelligence gathering for Hong Kong and Beijing authorities. The former UK officer was also convicted of misconduct in public office, and calls are being made to review the privileges of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office.
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- 📰 Published: May 8, 2026 at 10:28
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Central News Agency
(Central News Agency reporter Chen Yun-chu, London 7th exclusive report) Billy Yuen (Yuan Song-biao), 65, a retired Hong Kong police officer and former administrative manager of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, and Peter Wai (Wei Zhi-liang), 40, a former member of the UK Border Force and police officer, were convicted today at the Central Criminal Court in London for illegally engaging in intelligence gathering, surveillance, and other activities for Hong Kong and Beijing authorities. Sentencing will be determined at a later date.
Both Billy Yuen and Peter Wai were convicted under the UK's National Security Act. Peter Wai was also convicted of "misconduct in public office," which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
This is the first time anyone has been convicted under the UK's National Security Act, which came into effect in December 2023, for assisting China (including Hong Kong).
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) stated that evidence showed the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London was used as a base for planning and funding the defendants' illegal activities.
The London-based advocacy group Hong Kong Watch today reiterated its call for the UK government to comprehensively review the immunities and consular privileges enjoyed by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, reassess whether allowing the office to continue operating is in the UK's national security interests, and include China in the "Foreign Influence Registration Scheme" (FIRS) at an "enhanced control" level, alongside Russia and Iran.
Wai, a British citizen of Chinese descent, spent his teenage years in Hong Kong before moving to the UK. Police and prosecution records show that while serving in the Border Force, Wai abused the UK Home Office database to provide designated personal information to individuals associated with the Hong Kong government and Beijing, particularly information related to dissidents and Hong Kong/Chinese residents in the UK.
The Border Force falls under the Home Office. Wai was once stationed at London Heathrow Airport, one of Europe's busiest international airports, inspecting a large number of entry and exit documents daily.
Furthermore, after settling in the UK, he served in the military and undertook overseas missions. He also worked as a police officer in London, assigned to undercover investigations into illegal Chinese activities in the UK, including money laundering and the sex industry. He was later forced to leave the police force due to involvement in fraud, becoming a private investigator and providing high-end security services. He was also commissioned to infiltrate Chinese triads operating in the UK to obtain evidence for convictions.
However, Wai's undercover infiltration and intelligence gathering capabilities were also used against individuals in the UK who were seen as thorns in the side of the Hong Kong government and Beijing.
According to case-related materials, Wai began illegally serving individuals related to the Hong Kong government at least as early as 2020, before joining the UK Border Force. He subsequently "moonlighted" by providing designated intelligence to Chinese and Hong Kong parties.
In addition, Wai privately operated an immigration consultancy business, abusing his clients' trust by sharing their passports and other sensitive information with Chinese and Hong Kong parties for remuneration, effectively profiting from both sides.
In January 2021, the UK government's preferential entry and residency measures for Hong Kong residents officially came into effect, attracting many eligible Hong Kongers to move to the UK. Against this backdrop, Wai once told his Hong Kong "superior" via messaging software that he was clearing the ground at the airport and would never let any "cockroaches" (referring to Hong Kongers who do not identify with the Hong Kong government) enter the UK.
The Hong Kong "superior" responded that what Wai should do is to let the "cockroaches" enter smoothly, and then "look after" them well, "warmly embrace" them, and try to extract "more connections" from them.
Wai infiltrated the community of UK-based dissidents, attended relevant events and gatherings, and gained their trust, even being recommended as a trustworthy asylum application consultant.
Court documents show that before his arrest in early May 2024, Wai and his associates were planning to expand their targets to include "China hawks" UK Members of Parliament like Iain Duncan Smith, including members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) in both houses of Parliament.
As for Billy Yuen, his role was to lead the planning and coordination of mission execution, despite his nominal full-time job at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London.
Before settling in London in 2015, Yuen served in the Hong Kong police for many years. At the time, he was one of several former Hong Kong police officers tasked with illegally engaging in surveillance, intelligence gathering, and cross-border repression activities for Hong Kong and Beijing authorities in the UK, under the diplomatic protection of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office. According to several open-source intelligence investigations, Chinese triads were also involved in related activities.
Yuen met Wai in 2021 and was impressed by Wai's background, subsequently inviting him to provide "security maintenance" services for the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office.
According to an investigative report by The Times, Yuen and current Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee, who also came from the police force, were contemporaries and even studied police management together in Australia.
After Yuen was charged on May 12, 2024, John Lee responded to media inquiries by stating he had no recollection of Yuen. The report mentioned that at the time in Australia, including Lee and Yuen, there were only 8 students in the same class.
London's Metropolitan Police today stated that analysis of digital data, including mobile communications, showed that Yuen regularly communicated with individuals linked to the Hong Kong government, received instructions from Hong Kong, and then assigned tasks to Wai, with targets primarily being pro-democracy activists in the UK.
The police mentioned that the individuals involved communicated in several languages, making the massive challenge of translation even more difficult for investigators.
According to a recently declassified investigative report, carried out with the support of the UK Home Office, there is not only a very limited number of professionals within UK law enforcement agencies with sufficient Chinese, Cantonese, and other Chinese dialect language skills, but also a shortage of relevant translation talent. This not only hinders investigations but has also practically led to situations where suspects had to be released before the deadline because evidence could not be translated in time.
Furthermore, informed sources point out that processing voice content with translation software is usually more difficult than processing text content, which is one of the weaknesses of UK law enforcement agencies that Chinese criminal networks are happy to exploit.
It is worth noting that after receiving task instructions, Wai sometimes collaborated with partners to execute them, and related work could also be "subcontracted" in layers, for example, partners finding additional personnel for shadowing and surveillance.
(Central News Agency reporter Chen Yun-chu, London 7th exclusive report) Billy Yuen (Yuan Song-biao), 65, a retired Hong Kong police officer and former administrative manager of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, and Peter Wai (Wei Zhi-liang), 40, a former member of the UK Border Force and police officer, were convicted today at the Central Criminal Court in London for illegally engaging in intelligence gathering, surveillance, and other activities for Hong Kong and Beijing authorities. Sentencing will be determined at a later date.
Both Billy Yuen and Peter Wai were convicted under the UK's National Security Act. Peter Wai was also convicted of "misconduct in public office," which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
This is the first time anyone has been convicted under the UK's National Security Act, which came into effect in December 2023, for assisting China (including Hong Kong).
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) stated that evidence showed the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London was used as a base for planning and funding the defendants' illegal activities.
The London-based advocacy group Hong Kong Watch today reiterated its call for the UK government to comprehensively review the immunities and consular privileges enjoyed by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, reassess whether allowing the office to continue operating is in the UK's national security interests, and include China in the "Foreign Influence Registration Scheme" (FIRS) at an "enhanced control" level, alongside Russia and Iran.
Wai, a British citizen of Chinese descent, spent his teenage years in Hong Kong before moving to the UK. Police and prosecution records show that while serving in the Border Force, Wai abused the UK Home Office database to provide designated personal information to individuals associated with the Hong Kong government and Beijing, particularly information related to dissidents and Hong Kong/Chinese residents in the UK.
The Border Force falls under the Home Office. Wai was once stationed at London Heathrow Airport, one of Europe's busiest international airports, inspecting a large number of entry and exit documents daily.
Furthermore, after settling in the UK, he served in the military and undertook overseas missions. He also worked as a police officer in London, assigned to undercover investigations into illegal Chinese activities in the UK, including money laundering and the sex industry. He was later forced to leave the police force due to involvement in fraud, becoming a private investigator and providing high-end security services. He was also commissioned to infiltrate Chinese triads operating in the UK to obtain evidence for convictions.
However, Wai's undercover infiltration and intelligence gathering capabilities were also used against individuals in the UK who were seen as thorns in the side of the Hong Kong government and Beijing.
According to case-related materials, Wai began illegally serving individuals related to the Hong Kong government at least as early as 2020, before joining the UK Border Force. He subsequently "moonlighted" by providing designated intelligence to Chinese and Hong Kong parties.
In addition, Wai privately operated an immigration consultancy business, abusing his clients' trust by sharing their passports and other sensitive information with Chinese and Hong Kong parties for remuneration, effectively profiting from both sides.
In January 2021, the UK government's preferential entry and residency measures for Hong Kong residents officially came into effect, attracting many eligible Hong Kongers to move to the UK. Against this backdrop, Wai once told his Hong Kong "superior" via messaging software that he was clearing the ground at the airport and would never let any "cockroaches" (referring to Hong Kongers who do not identify with the Hong Kong government) enter the UK.
The Hong Kong "superior" responded that what Wai should do is to let the "cockroaches" enter smoothly, and then "look after" them well, "warmly embrace" them, and try to extract "more connections" from them.
Wai infiltrated the community of UK-based dissidents, attended relevant events and gatherings, and gained their trust, even being recommended as a trustworthy asylum application consultant.
Court documents show that before his arrest in early May 2024, Wai and his associates were planning to expand their targets to include "China hawks" UK Members of Parliament like Iain Duncan Smith, including members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) in both houses of Parliament.
As for Billy Yuen, his role was to lead the planning and coordination of mission execution, despite his nominal full-time job at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London.
Before settling in London in 2015, Yuen served in the Hong Kong police for many years. At the time, he was one of several former Hong Kong police officers tasked with illegally engaging in surveillance, intelligence gathering, and cross-border repression activities for Hong Kong and Beijing authorities in the UK, under the diplomatic protection of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office. According to several open-source intelligence investigations, Chinese triads were also involved in related activities.
Yuen met Wai in 2021 and was impressed by Wai's background, subsequently inviting him to provide "security maintenance" services for the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office.
According to an investigative report by The Times, Yuen and current Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee, who also came from the police force, were contemporaries and even studied police management together in Australia.
After Yuen was charged on May 12, 2024, John Lee responded to media inquiries by stating he had no recollection of Yuen. The report mentioned that at the time in Australia, including Lee and Yuen, there were only 8 students in the same class.
London's Metropolitan Police today stated that analysis of digital data, including mobile communications, showed that Yuen regularly communicated with individuals linked to the Hong Kong government, received instructions from Hong Kong, and then assigned tasks to Wai, with targets primarily being pro-democracy activists in the UK.
The police mentioned that the individuals involved communicated in several languages, making the massive challenge of translation even more difficult for investigators.
According to a recently declassified investigative report, carried out with the support of the UK Home Office, there is not only a very limited number of professionals within UK law enforcement agencies with sufficient Chinese, Cantonese, and other Chinese dialect language skills, but also a shortage of relevant translation talent. This not only hinders investigations but has also practically led to situations where suspects had to be released before the deadline because evidence could not be translated in time.
Furthermore, informed sources point out that processing voice content with translation software is usually more difficult than processing text content, which is one of the weaknesses of UK law enforcement agencies that Chinese criminal networks are happy to exploit.
It is worth noting that after receiving task instructions, Wai sometimes collaborated with partners to execute them, and related work could also be "subcontracted" in layers, for example, partners finding additional personnel for shadowing and surveillance.