The FBI, Justice Department and federal prosecutors announced Monday the arrests of two New York residents who allegedly ran an undisclosed Chinese government police station in Manhattan's Chinatown neighborhood.

Lu Jianwang and Chen Jinping have each been charged with conspiring to act as agents of China's government, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said China's Ministry of Public Security "has repeatedly and flagrantly violated our nation's sovereignty, including by opening and operating a police station in the middle of New York City."

"Two miles from our office just across the Brooklyn Bridge, this nondescript office building in the heart of bustling Chinatown in Lower Manhattan, has a dark secret. Until several months ago, an entire floor of this building hosted an undeclared police station of the Chinese National Police," Peace said. "Now, just imagine the NYPD opening an undeclared secret police station in Beijing. It would be unthinkable.

"Here's what we know happened inside the secret police station in Lower Manhattan. At the very least, the station was providing some government services, like helping Chinese citizens renew their Chinese driver's licenses," Peace continued. "But to do even that, the law requires that individuals like the defendants who act as agents of a foreign government give prior notice to the attorney general before setting up shop in New York City. That didn't happen."

"More troubling, though, is the fact that the secret police station appears to have had a more sinister use on at least one occasion," Peace added. "An official with the Chinese National Police directed one of the defendants -- a U.S. citizen who worked at the secret police station -- to help locate a pro-democracy activist of Chinese descent living in California. In other words, the Chinese national police appear to have been using the station to track a U.S. resident on U.S. soil."

"The two defendants whose arrests we're announcing today destroyed evidence of their communications with the Chinese national police when they learned of the FBI's investigation," Peace also said. "These two defendants knew they had something to hide and they obstructed justice in an attempt to prevent the FBI from learning the full extent of what they were up to."

The Justice Department earlier described the announcement as a "significant national security matter." 

The defendants are scheduled to appear in court this afternoon before a magistrate judge.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.