A car with the markings of a Chinese police car has been spotted days after a similar one was parked in Melbourne.
The black jeep was found adorned with the Chinese police crest and parked in a car park on the NSW south coast.
Mandarin characters were added to the outside with the phrases translating to ‘special police’ and ‘based in Australia’.
Drew Pavlou, a staunch critic of the Chinese Communist Party, tweeted a photo of the bizarre-looking vehicle.
Another car with Chinese police badges spotted on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. A supporter took the photo and contacted my page,” he wrote.
The sighting comes less than a week after a silver Nissan Maxima was found with similar markings parked on a Melbourne street.
Anti-Chinese government activist Drew Pavlou has tweeted what appears to be a marked Chinese police car spotted on NSW’s south coast
Some eagle-eyed viewers noted that there was one striking difference from the car parked in Sydney.
Social media users pointed out that the Transformers icon, from the popular movie franchise, was affixed to the hood of the vehicle.
“Don’t forget the $2.24 Transformer sticker from Ali Express,” one wrote. “Alibaba thank you for your service.”
Alibaba is the giant Chinese supplier of consumer goods, entertainment and electronic payments.
NSW Police said they were ‘unable to verify the authenticity of the images provided’ but had investigated other similar sightings.
“Police have previously investigated reports of vehicles with similar badges and no offense has been identified,” a police spokesman said.
Victoria Police told Daily Mail Australia at the time that they needed more information to comment after the silver saloon was spotted in Melbourne.
Similar counterfeit Chinese police cars were spotted three years ago in Adelaide and Perth during the Hong Kong protests, sparking outrage from pro-democracy campaigners.
Western Australia Police in 2019 tracked down the owner of one of the fake police cars whose owner said they had bought the decals online as a joke.
However, an eagle-eyed Twitter user saw what appears to be an Autobot symbol from the Transformers toys and movies
Mr. Pavlou is a prominent and outspoken activist against the ruling Chinese Communist Party
“There are people who feel intimidated by this,” a pro-democracy rally organizer said at the time.
“I find it highly inappropriate, especially if you pretend to represent a foreign law enforcement unit in a Western country.”
Activists like Pavlou fear the police-marked vehicle is the latest escalation in efforts by Chinese President Xi Jinping to intimidate Chinese migrants overseas.
“It’s illegal to pose as a police officer in Australia, but somehow it’s fine to pose as a foreign police officer in Australia,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
“We know that the CCP is subjecting members of the Chinese, Tibetan, Hong Kong and Uyghur diaspora in Australia to harassment, and we know that the Iranian regime has targeted protesters here as well.
“We need legislation to make it illegal to impersonate a foreign police force in Australia.”
There are said to be more than 100 secret police stations operating in 53 countries with reported dark locations in the UK, Canada, US and Australia, among others.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government was “deeply concerned” by the allegations.
“We are working to ensure that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are following up on this and that our intelligence systems are taking this seriously,” he said last month.
Two of the secret police stations are said to be in Australia, ostensibly set up to “help Chinese emigrants” but instead “harass, threaten, intimidate and force targets to return to China for prosecution,” says pressure group Safeguard Defenders.
Mr Pavlou – who has been repeatedly arrested for his protests against the Chinese government – denounced the latest fake police car tactic.
The Australian Federal Police have been contacted for comment.
The silver 2015 Nissan Maxima saloon (pictured) spotted in Melbourne is fitted with Chinese police decals and text on the rear passenger door claims it’s ‘Special Police’