A UK Border Force officer surveilled and investigated Chinese citizens in Britain as part of a "shadow policing operation" with its "tentacles" reaching from Hong Kong, a court has heard.
The prosecution said Chi Leung "Peter" Wai, also known as "fatboy", was being given tasks by Chung Biu "Bill" Yuen, a retired Hong Kong police officer who was working at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in London.
Both men are on trial at the Old Bailey on charges under the National Security Act.
The court heard the men arranged for their targets, many of whom were dissidents, to be filmed as part of the surveillance - with the jury shown one woman in Pontefract answering her door in pink pyjamas.
Duncan Atkinson KC said the alleged operation "involved persons connected with the Hong Kong authorities acting as if Pontefract were a town in China rather than Yorkshire".
