Three Chinese citizens have been arrested in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, while allegedly trying to buy 2kg (4.4lb) of uranium, the State Security Service says.
The suspects planned to transport the nuclear material to China through Russia, the security service said on Saturday in a statement, while also releasing video footage of the detention operation.
Authorities accused a Chinese citizen already in Georgia who was in breach of visa regulations of bringing experts to Georgia to search for uranium throughout the country.
Other members of the criminal group coordinated the operation from China, authorities said. The perpetrators were identified and detained while “negotiating the details of the illegal transaction”, the State Security Service said.
The agency did not specify when the arrests occurred or provide the identities of the suspects.
Members of the group planned to pay $400,000 for the radioactive material, authorities said. They face charges that could see them imprisoned for up to 10 years.
Several serious incidents involving the illicit trade in nuclear materials have occurred in Georgia over recent years. In July, Georgia arrested one Georgian and one Turkish national and charged them with the illegal purchase, possession and disposal of radioactive substances, which the State Security Service said could have been used to make a bomb.
The security of nuclear materials left over from the Soviet era was one of the biggest concerns after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, of which Georgia was a member. After Soviet research institutions shut down, the country became a rich picking ground for smugglers.
In 2019, Georgia said it had detained two people for handling and trying to sell $2.8m of uranium-238.
In 2016, authorities arrested 121 people, including Georgians and Armenians, in two sting operations in the same month and accused them of trying to sell about $203m of uranium-238 and uranium-235.
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