Canadian couple who run China coffee shop on the North Korean border taken to unknown location on suspicion of stealing military and intelligence information
- Kevin Garratt, 54, and Julia Dawn Garratt, 53, went missing last night
- The couple ran a coffee shop in Dandong, a gateway to North Korea
- [Vancouver couple] had been living in China since 1984
- Have four children - one of them was adopted from China when she was two
- Son: 'My parents have dedicated their lives to helping the Chinese people'
- JILL REILLY
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A Canadian couple who run a Chinese coffee shop near the North Korean border have been taken to an unknown location of suspicion of stealing of state secrets.
Kevin Garratt, 54, and Julia Dawn Garratt, 53, from Vancouver, are being investigated for the suspected theft of military and intelligence information and for threatening national security, China's Foreign Ministry said today.
The couple, who have four children, moved to China in 1984 and run a coffee shop in Dandong just across the border from North Korea.
A Canadian couple who run a coffee shop in China and organised trips into the North Korea habe been taken to an unknown location of suspicion of selling Chinese secrets. Julia and Kevin Garratt (centre) with their children Peter, 21 and Hannah, 17
Their eldest son Simeon, 27, told MailOnline the charges were false: 'I think it sounds crazy and absurd.
'My parents have dedicated their entire lives to helping the Chinese people so I find it extremely insulting that news like this is even a possibility.'
He said that he last spoke to his parents on Monday evening when they were dining out in the city, but the family have not heard from then since.
'I found out about my parents through some friends in China who say it was on the local news. This was then confirmed after speaking with my younger brother who is in the city.'
The couple at the 2008 opening of their coffee shop in Dandong just across the border from North Korea
The couple, who speak Mandarin, named after their youngest son - Peter
'They do good Western food and they have an 'English Corner' every Friday night where customers practice speaking English and find out about North America,' said their eldest son of their coffee shop
'Their phones have been turned off since yesterday and nobody has seen or heard from them.'
Xinhua, the state media, said the State Security Bureau of Dandong city in northeast Liaoning province was investigating the case, adding it involved the stealing of state secrets.
Neither the Foreign Ministry nor Xinhua said if the couple had been detained, although the ministry said the Canadian embassy in Beijing was notified on Monday and that the couple's 'various rights have been fully guaranteed'.
Mrs Garratt, who was born in Britain in Bristol, moved to Canada when she was 11 where she met her husband who is a Canadian citizen.
Three of their children - Simeon, Sarah, 25, and Peter, 21, - were born in Toronto and they adopted Hannah, 17, in China.
After they moved to China thirty years ago they worked as teachers and brought their children up in the country until 2004 when they moved back to Canada.
'My parents moved back to Canada when I started university, thought it would be good for all of us to have a few years of 'North American living'. My mum did consulting for the school board and my dad worked for an NGO (World Vision),' explained Simeon.
The Garratt's at their youngest daughter Hannah's graduation. Their eldest son, Simeon, 27, (right) told MailOnline the charges are false: 'My parents have dedicated their entire lives to helping the Chinese people so I find it extremely insulting that news like this is even a possibility'
On their 2008 return, the couple, who speak Mandarin, opened the popular cafe which is named after their youngest son.
The Garratt's western-style coffee shop has a view of traffic flowing across the Yalu River that divides China and North Korea.
'It is the only foreign run coffee shop there,' explained Simeon.
'My Dad always jokes that they opened it because there wasn't any good coffee.
'They do good Western food and they have an 'English Corner' every Friday night where customers practice speaking English and find out about North America.'
There have been reports that the couple also helped people plan tours to North Korea, but Simeon, a real estate agent living in Vancouver, insisted it was not a business and they just helped to arrange visits because they have a deep interest in the country and had become friends with local tour guides.
'They have a fascination with North Korea. They have friends who come over and they help arrange tours,' he said.
The coffee shop's website says the cafe is only metres from the Friendship Bridge that spans the river, calling the venue the 'perfect stop off while en-route to or returning from the Hermit Kingdom'.
Today the Foreign Ministry said in a short statement: 'Kevin Garratt and his wife ... are suspected of collecting and stealing intelligence materials related to Chinese military targets and important Chinese national defence scientific research programs, and engaging in activities that endanger China's national security.'
China's state secrets law is notoriously broad, covering everything from industry data to the exact birth dates of state leaders. In severe cases, the theft of state secrets is punishable with life in prison or the death penalty.
Beijing is also sensitive about its relationship with North Korea, whose ruined economy is partly kept afloat with Chinese aid.
Information in China can be labelled a state secret retroactively.
The couple moved to China in 1984 and run a coffee shop in Dandong just across the border from North Korea
The announcement of the investigation into the Garratts comes a week after Canada took the unusual step of singling out Chinese hackers for attacking a key computer network and lodged a protest with Beijing.
Canadian officials have said 'a highly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored actor' broke into the National Research Council, the government's leading research body, which works with big firms such as aircraft and train maker Bombardier Inc. .
In response, Beijing accused Canada of making irresponsible accusations that lacked credible evidence.
'It's completely unprecedented. We haven't had this sort of thing (before),' Charles Burton, a Brock University professor who served as a diplomat at Canada's embassy in Beijing in the early 2000s, was quoted by The Globe & Mail as saying.
Canada's right-leaning conservative government has had an uneven relationship with Beijing since taking power in 2006.
Citing human rights concerns, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper initially kept his distance.
Under pressure from business in Canada, he sought to reach out to Beijing.
There have been reports that the couple also helped people plan tours to North Korea, (pictured) but their son insisted it was not a business and they just helped to arrange visits because they have a deep interest in the country and had become friends with local tour guides
China is Canada's second most important trading partner after the United States, and bilateral trade is growing.
Total Canada-China trade was C$69.8 billion in 2012 and $72.9 billion in 2013, according to official Canadian data.
In July, Chinese prosecutors charged British corporate investigator Peter Humphrey and his American wife Yu Yingzeng for illegally obtaining private information.
The couple were detained last year following work they did for the British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) and their trial is set for August 8 in Shanghai.
The Canadian embassy said it was aware of reports that two Canadians had been 'detained' in China and was gathering information.
'Our consular officials stand ready to provide assistance as required,' embassy spokeswoman Mary Anne Dehler told Reuters.
In July, Chinese prosecutors charged British corporate investigator Peter Humphrey (pictured) and his American wife Yu Yingzeng for illegally obtaining private information
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