Three people have been arrested in Essex, United Kingdom, on suspicion of assisting the Russian intelligence service, police have confirmed. A 41-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman were detained at an address in Grays, while a 46-year-old man was arrested at a separate location in the same area. All three are being investigated under section 3 of the National Security Act 2023 for allegedly aiding a foreign intelligence service and were taken to a London police station. Metropolitan Police Counter-Terrorism Commander Dominic Murphy said the arrests highlight an increase in what authorities describe as proxies recruited by foreign intelligence agencies. Through our recent national security casework, we are seeing an increasing number of who we would describe as proxies being recruited by foreign intelligence services, Murphy said. He cited a previous case in which two young British men were recruited by the Wagner Group, linked to the Russian state, to carry out arson at a Ukrainian-connected warehouse. Murphy added that the current arrests are not connected to that investigation. Murphy warned that anyone contacted by foreign states to carry out criminal activity in the UK would face investigation and prosecution, with serious consequences for those convicted. All three suspects have been released on bail while the investigation continues. Scotland Yard has not disclosed their nationalities. The arrests follow earlier cases of espionage in the UK, including a honeytrap spy ring jailed in May for passing secrets to Russia over three years. That group, composed of Bulgarian nationals with EU settled status, operated from a British guesthouse and was controlled by Jan Marsalek on behalf of Russias GRU military intelligence and FSB state security service. Marsalek, 43, remains at large and is the subject of an Interpol Red Notice.
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