New Delhi: A hidden camera has been found in the ceiling of the British government’s Home Office and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), triggering fears of possible espionage, according to British media reports.
According to a report by British news outlet The i Paper, the decision to allow China to build a new embassy in Central London was taken at the building. The incident was reported to British security agencies in the last couple of months.
Fears of the proposed Chinese embassy in London being used as an anti-government espionage hub has been prevalent.
China or Russia have yet not been officially linked to the device.
The discovery is expected to significantly heighten anxieties over hostile espionage tactics, and leave the staff paranoid.
According to the UK-based daily, Tory Shadow Minister Alex Burghart said, “This is an extremely serious incident that demands an urgent investigation.” He added that the discovery of the hidden camera had exposed serious security lapses across the Home Office and other departments.
An investigation is being carried out to determine how the device was planted inside a high-risk communal zone used by multiple civil servants and how it went unnoticed for so long.
“We urgently need to know who was responsible, how long this device was in place, and whether any sensitive or classified information had been compromised.” said Burghart, the Shadow Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster to The i Paper.
The UK has been on high-alert after Russian and Chinese “State-sponsored attacks” have repeatedly targeted British government networks in recent years.
Just last week, the Five Eyes — the intelligence grouping consisting of UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada —published a rare joint bulletin warning against Chinese espionage efforts through job platforms such as LinkedIn,
The Five Eyes warned that job seekers are being induced by Chinese intelligence agents to sell privileged information for hefty amounts via platforms such as LinkedIn.
The discovery of the camera raised immediate concerns, as officials within the building were overseeing the controversial planning application for China’s proposed mega embassy.
An MHCLG spokesperson said, “We do not comment on security matters.”
Several civil servants flagged concerns of covert surveillance in Whitehall, citing previous incidents such as former Health Secretary Matt Hancock kissing his mistress Gina Coladangelo in 2021.
A report in The i Paper last year in January showed the proximity of fiber-optic cables to the Royal Mint Court conveying large amounts of classified information from London, resulting in concerns over the vulnerability of cables and potential of their misuse by Beijing to infiltrate UK’s financial system.
The embassy site was cleared in the MHCLG’s January 2026 decision, stating that neither the Home nor Foreign Office had objected as the cables posed no security risk
The MI5 director general Sir Ken McCallum and GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler said in a joint letter a “proportionate” package of national security mitigations had now been developed for the site.
Last autumn, the MI5 Chief had warned of escalating threats from China, Russia, and Iran, noting a 35 percent spike in investigations and revealing recent MI5 operations to disrupt what he said were daily Chinese security threats.
(Edited by Archishman Ganguly)
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