The FBI arrested two Chinese intelligence agents who were planning to recruit members of the U.S. Armed Forces
According to the criminal complaint against them, Chen and Lai were working on behalf of China's Ministry of State Security (MSS), which is the Communist dictatorship's top foreign intelligence service.
FBI building
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday that two Chinese nationals were arrested on June 27 by the FBI for allegedly working on behalf of an intelligence agency of the Chinese regime to recruit members of the U.S. Armed Forces to betray the country. The agency reported that those arrested were identified as Yuance Chen, 38, who is a Chinese citizen with permanent legal residency in Oregon, and Liren Lai, 39, who is a Chinese citizen who entered the United States last April on a tourist visa. Both were formally charged with operating within the country as agents of a foreign government without prior notification to the attorney general.
According to the criminal complaint, Chen and Lai were working on behalf of China's Ministry of State Security (MSS), which is the Communist dictatorship's top foreign intelligence service. "This case underscores the Chinese government’s sustained and aggressive effort to infiltrate our military and undermine our national security from within. The Justice Department will not stand by while hostile nations embed spies in our country – we will expose foreign operatives, hold their agents to account, and protect the American people from covert threats to our national security," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
"The Chinese Communist Party thought they were getting away with their scheme”
In its statement, the DOJ explained that in January 2022 the two Chinese nationals put a backpack containing $10,000 by the MSS in a locker inside a recreation center in Livermore (California) as a form of secret payment in exchange for classified information about the country's national security.
"The FBI arrested two Chinese nationals who were allegedly attempting to recruit U.S. military service members on behalf of the People's Republic China. The Chinese Communist Party thought they were getting away with their scheme to operate on U.S. soil, utilizing spy craft, like dead drops, to pay their sources," said FBI Director Kash Patel.
Penalties and fine
LATEST
