Charge dropped against man accused of being Chinese spy - ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Police arrested a Chinese man and woman in Canberra in February over foreign interference allegations.  (Supplied: AFP)

A man who was arrested in February for alleged reckless foreign interference has had that charge dropped.

The man was accused of covertly collecting information about a Canberra Buddhist association on behalf of China's Public Security Bureau.

Two women in their 30s are still facing the same charge, with their matters due to return to court in December.

One of three Chinese nationals accused of foreign interference has had the charge against him dropped by a Canberra court.

The 26-year-old man, whose name was suppressed, was charged in February with one count of reckless foreign interference by the Australian Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce.

He was accused of covertly collecting information about the Canberra branch of Guan Yin Citta, a Buddhist group that is banned in China.

He was one of three Chinese nationals who were arrested over the matter.

But his charge was dropped in the ACT Magistrates Court this morning.

Two women in their 30s are still facing charges, with their matters due to return to court in December.

One of the women, 32-year-old Siru Zheng, was also arrested in February and charged with reckless foreign interference.

Chinese woman Siru Zheng, 32, was granted bail in the ACT Magistrates Court in February. (ABC News)

Both Ms Zheng and the man were allegedly linked to another woman, now 38, who was arrested last year on the same charge. She is now also facing another charge of intentional foreign interference.

News of the alleged spy operation broke last year when police searched the older woman's home, revealing six Hermes handbags worth tens of thousands of dollars, a Rolex watch receipt for $24,000, and large quantities of goods from luxury brands including Burberry, Gucci, and Lois Vuitton.

Court documents released in February showed the police case relied heavily on communications via the encrypted messaging app WeChat between the accused and an official working for China's Public Security Bureau.

Police allege the older woman, who is also an Australian permanent resident, first contacted the other woman and the man from China in May 2022, giving them a list of targets about which to gather information within the Buddhist group.

Police said the man asked what topics he should investigate and the woman replied: "All of them".

"Get to investigating immediately. The priority is to investigate the current status of the Guan Yin Citta and their official site," she said.

Messages showed they were also asked to investigate the response to the 2021 death of Guan Yin Citta's leader, Chinese-born Australian Richard Jin Hong Lu.

The contact from China also urged them to come up with street addresses for people linked to the Buddhist group.