As part of a multi-state investigation that included San Diego, two Chinese nationals have been jailed on suspicion of spying on U.S. military facilities and trying to recruit American service personnel, the FBI announced Tuesday.
The suspects, Yuance Chen, 38, and Liren “Ryan” Lai, 39, made their initial appearances in federal court Monday in Portland, Oregon, and Houston. The charges, issued out of the Northern District of California, include committing espionage offenses on behalf of the government of China.
Chen, a legal permanent U.S. resident who lives in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Lai, who traveled from China to Houston on a tourist visa in April, were arrested Friday on a criminal complaint charging them with overseeing and carrying out various offenses in the United States on behalf of China’s principal foreign-intelligence service, the Ministry of State Security (MSS)…