Iranian authorities have accused a British couple detained in the country since January of spying, state media reported on Tuesday.

Mizanonline.ir, a news website affiliated with the country’s judiciary, cited
Asghar Jahangir, a spokesman for the judiciary as saying that the Revolutionary Guard’s intelligence forces incarcerated the couple, a man and a woman, while in the southern city of Kerman at the time.

They are accused of spying and having links to intelligence agencies of “hostile countries” and collecting information from several Iranian provinces, according to Jahangir who didn’t provide further details.

The report didn’t name the couple, however, a family statement released on Saturday through the UK Foreign Office identified them as Craig and Lindsay Foreman, saying their situation was distressing and causing “significant concern”.

The two were reportedly travelling around the world on motorbikes when they were detained in January. British media, citing social media posts, reported that they had crossed into Iran from Armenia on December 30 and were planning to enter Pakistan next.

The British ambassador to Iran, Hugo Shorter, met the two in Kerman on Wednesday in the presence of officials from Iran’s justice department and the governor’s office.

Iran has a history of detaining and releasing western nationals on security charges.