Philippines alarmed over arrest of three ‘spies’

MANILA: The Philippines expressed alarm on Saturday over the arrest of three Filipinos in China on suspicion of espionage, saying they were ordinary citizens and the arrests could be retaliation for Manila’s crackdown against alleged Chinese spies.

Chinese authorities arrested the Filipinos and accused them of working for the Philippine intelligence agency to gather classified information on its military, the state-run China Daily reported earlier this week, citing state security officials.