The Justice Department announced on Monday that the FBI had arrested two defendants for allegedly operating an illegal Chinese police post in New York City to intimidate and influence dissidents who were critical of the Chinese Government in the U.S.

The Bronx’s “Harry” Lu Jianwang and Manhattan’s Chen Jinping are accused of conspiring to act in the capacity of agents for the Chinese government, as well as obstruction of justice. A 30-page affidavit that accompanied a criminal complaint alleged an FBI agent had alleged the defendants set up a secret police unit under the direction of China’s Ministry of Public Security in a Manhattan building.

When they learned about the FBI investigation, the Justice Department stated that the two men had helped to open the outpost by 2022 and deleted all communications with a MPS official. Both men are expected to appear at federal court in Brooklyn on Monday.

Kurt Ronnow is the acting assistant director of FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. He said: “It’s outrageous that China’s Ministry of Public Security believes it can get away establishing a secret and illegal police station in the United States to help its efforts to export oppression and subvert the rule of law.” This case is a reminder that China will do anything to subvert the rule of law and silence any messages it doesn’t like to be heard.

China disputed U.S. claims about police stations Tuesday, according to Reuters, citing Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, who said that they didn’t exist, and that China had a policy of not interfering in the internal affairs of other nations.

Agence France Presse reported that Wenbin claimed “political manipulating” was the reason for the arrests.

“China strongly opposes US slandering and smearing. It also condemns political manipulation by the US, as well as the maliciously fabricated narrative of transnational repression,” AFP quoted him.

In a separate lawsuit, the Justice Department charged that nearly 30 MPS officers used fake social media accounts in order to intimidate Chinese dissidents living in the U.S., and to disseminate official PRC government propaganda to counter pro-democracy speeches by Chinese dissidents.

The 34 defendants are believed to be Chinese and were part of a task force called the “912 Special Project Working Group”, which was created to track down and harass Chinese dissidents in order to muzzle criticism of the Chinese Government. According to documents unveiled Monday, others are accused of disrupting meetings online where topics critical of China’s government were discussed.

The group operated a troll-farm of fake social media accounts on sites such as Twitter, to spread Chinese government propaganda. They also recruited agents in the U.S. for the same purpose. Members of the 912 Group are alleged to have targeted a virtual anti-communism conference organized by a Chinese political dissident using loud music, vulgarity and threats.

Ten individuals, including six officers of the MPS, have been accused of attempting to censor political and religious expression of Americans who are critical of the Chinese government.

Breon Peace said that the PRC government uses its national police, as well as the 912 Special Project Working Group, not to enforce the law or protect the public, but as a “troll farm” that targets people in the United States for exercising their right to free speech. The PRC government does not like this. They also spread propaganda that is solely intended to create divisions in the United States.

The Justice Department has been battling transnational repression by foreign dissidents in the U.S. for years.

In January, the Justice Department charged three men with plotting to kill an Iranian journalist who lived in the U.S. because of her vocal criticism of Iran’s government. In an unrevealed indictment, the men from the U.S.A., Iran, and the Czech Republic were charged with murder for hire in federal court in New York.