Their non-official cover was Christian missionary!
"China investigating Canadian coffee shop owners on espionage charges" by Simon Denyer | Washington Post August 06, 2014
BEIJING — A Canadian couple who ran a coffee shop on the North Korean border are under investigation for allegedly stealing Chinese military and intelligence secrets and endangering national security, authorities said Tuesday.
Kevin and Julia Garratt had opened Peter’s Coffee House in the Chinese border city of Dandong in 2008, on the banks of the Yalu River just a few minutes walk from the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge that crosses the frontier.
Offering coffee and Western food, they ran English conversation classes for residents and helped tourists organize trips across the border into North Korea, according to their website. They also, in Kevin Garratt’s words, tried to help the impoverished state next door ‘‘with God, with Jesus, and with practical assistance.’’
So what went wrong?
But Tuesday, calls to their coffee shop went unanswered after the official Xinhua news agency reported that the pair were under investigation. China’s Foreign Ministry said they were ‘‘suspected of collecting and stealing intelligence materials related to Chinese military targets and important Chinese national defense scientific research programs, and engaging in activities that endanger China’s national security.’’ In an e-mailed statement, it said the couple were under investigation by the local branch of the National Security Bureau and that ‘‘their various rights have been fully guaranteed.’’
Canada’s Foreign Ministry said it was aware of reports that the couple has been detained, and was ‘‘ready to provide assistance as required.’’
The theft of military secrets in China ‘‘for foreign organizations’’ is punishable by sentences from 10 years in prison to the death penalty. But if no foreign group is involved, recommended sentences range from ‘‘below five years to above 10 years.’’
The Garratts had been in China since 1984, working as teachers before opening the coffee house in Dandong named after their son.
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