UK police charge three men with helping Hong Kong's foreign intelligence service

London: British police said on Monday three men had been charged with assisting Hong Kong's foreign intelligence service after authorities made a series of arrests across England.

London's Metropolitan Police said a total of 11 people were detained earlier this month, nearly all of whom were arrested in the Yorkshire area in northern England.

The three men will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates’ Court later on Monday. Seven men and one woman who were not charged were released from custody, police added.

"While these offences are concerning, I want to reassure the public that we do not believe there to be any wider threat to them," Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said in a statement.

The investigation is ongoing and the police did not provide further details on the charges.

The three men were charged under Britain's National Security Act, which was passed last year and introduced new measures to target threats from foreign states.

The police said the charges were not linked to a separate investigation involving Russia, which was also conducted under the same law.