LONDON, September 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Two men have been arrested under the Official Secrets Act, one of them a British parliamentary researcher accused of “spying for China”.

The investigator is known to have links to a number of senior Conservative MPs, including Security Minister Tom Tugendhat and Foreign Affairs Committee chair Alicia Kearns.

He was arrested along with another man by officers on March 13 this year, the Sunday Times can reveal, and officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, which oversees espionage-related crimes, are investigating the case.

One of the men, aged in his 30s, was arrested in Oxfordshire on March 13, while the other, aged in his 20s, was arrested in Edinburgh, Scotland Yard said.

“Searches were also carried out at both residential properties, as well as a third address in east London,” the police statement added. The two men were detained at a south London police station until released on bail until early October.

Tugendhat is said to have had no contact with investigators since before he took over as security minister in September last year and Kearns, for his part, declined to comment, adding: “While I recognize the public interest, we all have a duty to ensure that the work of the authorities is not compromised .

The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China lobby group said it was “horrified by reports of infiltration of the UK Parliament by someone allegedly acting on behalf of the People’s Republic of China”. Downing Street has stated that it does not comment on security matters.