TRENTON, Canada 

Police in Canada said Thursday that they have shut down so-called “Chinese police stations” that serve as bases to launch intimidation against Chinese Canadians. 

The stations had been operating in the provinces of British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario, said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

Jody Thomas, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national security and intelligence advisor, told a committee of Canadian lawmakers that a variety of tactics were used to shutter the police stations.

"The tools used by the RCMP to shut down the police stations, reduce their impact, reduce their credibility, are different in every situation, in every scenario," Thomas said. "There would be value in our ability to arrest people for them, and those investigations are underway by the RCMP."

However, neither Thomas nor the RCMP reported whether anyone had been arrested to date. The number of stations was also not disclosed, but last October, it was reported that there were at least two in Montreal and three in Toronto. There were also reports of at least one station in Vancouver.

Thomas said that in some cases, Canadian citizens are staffing the stations without knowing the true purpose of them, or are doing so under duress.

Officials said the stations are used to monitor and coerce Chinese Canadians to do their bidding, such as returning to China to face prosecution for “crimes.” In some cases, relatives back in China are threatened with punishment.

The Chinese Embassy in Canada denies the accusations, saying the stations provide assistance for certain things, such as applying for driver’s licenses.

The Spanish human rights group Safeguard Defenders alerted the RCMP to the presence of the stations and claimed there are about 100 operating in more than 50 countries.