U.S. authorities said Monday they arrested two men and charged 34 Chinese security officials for setting up a Chinese “police station” in New York.

The suspects were involved in a campaign against U.S.-based dissidents, the authorities said. Breon Peace, the federal district attorney in Brooklyn, said that the move was aimed at “transnational repression schemes targeting members of the Chinese diaspora community in New York City and elsewhere in the United States.”

The two arrested were Harry Lu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59. Last year, they allegedly opened an office in Manhattan’s Chinatown at the behest of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), China’s national police force. According to Peace, the office was not registered as required with the U.S. government, and helped track down and harass fugitive dissidents from the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Peace added that the two men who were charged with acting as unregistered agents of a foreign government are the first to ever be arrested over China’s campaign to establish “police stations” in countries around the world, according to AFP.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department announced charges against 34 members of the MPS involved in harassing dissidents overseas. All of them are members of the MPS 912 Special Project Working Group.

The Justice Department described this group as a task force set up “to target Chinese dissidents located throughout the world, including in the United States.” According to the U.S. allegations, the task force created thousands of fake personae on social media sites including Twitter created “to target Chinese dissidents through online harassment and threats.”

“This task force isn’t a normal police force,” said Peace in a press conference.

“It doesn’t protect people or combat crimes. It commits crimes targeting Chinese democracy activists and dissidents located outside of the PRC, including right here in New York City,” he stressed. -I24 News