Three American citizens who had been detained for years in China were released, a State Department spokesperson said Wednesday. They are Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung.Li, 62, who is from Long Island,

The Americans were freed in exchange for a Chinese intelligence officer who was serving a 20-year sentence in the United States, officials said.

The trio of Americans held by Beijing were detained on drug and espionage charges, but Washington argued they were wrongfully imprisoned. No details were released on the Chinese nationals being freed.