Three men have appeared in court accused of assisting the Hong Kong intelligence service.

Chi Leung (Peter) Wai, 38, Matthew Trickett, 37, and Chung Biu Yuen, 63, who are also accused of foreign interference, spoke only to confirm their identities at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

The charges against them allege that between December 20 2023 and May 2 2024, Yuen, Wai and Trickett agreed to undertake information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception that were likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service.

It is also alleged that on May 1 2024 they forced entry into a UK residential address, being reckless as to whether the prohibited conduct, or course of conduct of which it forms part, would have an interference effect.

All wearing grey sweatshirts, Wai, of Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey; Trickett, of Maidenhead, Berkshire; and Yuen, of Hackney, east London, who was also wearing a black jacket, sat side by side in the glass-fronted dock for a brief hearing before they were given bail.

District Judge Louisa Cieciora said they must abide by conditions including a 10pm to 5am curfew, reporting weekly to their local police station, not travelling internationally and informing police of devices used to access the internet.

They are next due to appear at the Old Bailey on May 24.

They were charged with the offences under the National Security Act following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command which saw a total of 11 people arrested.

Eight men and a woman were arrested by officers on May 1 in the Yorkshire area before a man was arrested in London and another man was arrested in the Yorkshire area the following day, the Metropolitan Police said.

The seven men and one woman who were not charged were released from custody on or before May 10.