US law enforcement officials arrested two New Yorkers on Monday for allegedly operating a Chinese “secret police station” in Manhattan’s Chinatown to quell Beijing’s alleged crackdown on American dissidents, Reuters reported.

Lu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59, are charged with conspiring to act as agents of the Chinese government without informing US authorities and obstruction of justice. They were released on bond after their first appearance in federal court in Brooklyn.

The Justice Department has stepped up its investigation into what it calls “transnational repression” by US adversaries such as China and Iran to intimidate political opponents living in the United States. “We cannot and will not tolerate the Chinese government’s persecution of pro-democracy activists who have sought asylum in this country,” Breon Peace, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, told reporters.

Prosecutors on Monday unveiled indictments against 34 Chinese officials for allegedly running a “troll farm” and harassing dissidents online, including by disrupting their meetings on US technology platforms.