LONDON, September 18. /TASS/. Three people were detained in the United Kingdom on suspicion of assisting Russian intelligence, Scotland Yard said in a statement.
"Three people have been arrested in Essex as part of a Counter Terrorism Policing Investigation into suspected National Security Act offences, which is being led by the Met's Counter Terrorism Command," the statement reads.
According to it, a 41-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman were arrested at a home in Grays, Essex. A 46-year-old man was arrested at a separate residence, also in the Grays area of Essex.
"All three were arrested on Wednesday, 17 September on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service, contrary to section 3 of the National Security Act (NSA), 2023 and they were taken to a police station in London. The country to which the allegations relate is Russia," the statement noted.
"Officers carried out searches at the two addresses in Essex and all three people have since been released on police bail with conditions, while the investigation remains ongoing," the police noted.
It was stressed that the arrests are unrelated to an arson at a Ukrainian-linked warehouse storing Starlink satellite equipment carried out last March allegedly on the orders of the Wagner private military group.
Earlier, Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrey Kelin told LBC Radio that the British authorities link Russia to anything and everything that happens in the country, having read too many James Bond novels.