Three Bulgarian citizens living in England who were arrested in February on suspicion of espionage offenses have been charged with possessing false identity documents, the Metropolitan Police said Tuesday.
Orlin Roussev, 45, Bizer Dzhambazov, 42, and Katrin Ivanova, 32, were taken into custody after they appeared last month in the Central Criminal Court in London.
The trio is suspected of working for Russian security services, the BBC and other British media reported.
The charges allege the three had false documents among 34 pieces of identification in their possession. The BBC said documents, including passports and identity cards, were from the U.K., Bulgaria, France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece and the Czech Republic.
Counter-terrorism detectives arrested the three with two others on suspicion of an offense under the Official Secrets Act 1911, which criminalizes spying. That investigation continues.
The other two arrested, a 31-year-old man and 29-year-old woman, both from London, were released on bail and are due in court next month.
No pleas have been entered for the three people charged. Their next court date has not been set.
The BBC said the three had been living in the U.K. for years.
