Security News > 2023 > December > Belgian man charged with smuggling sanctioned military tech to Russia and China

A Belgian man has been arrested and charged for his role in a years-long smuggling scheme to export military-grade electronics from the US to Russia and China.

Belgian law enforcement detained Hans Maria De Geetere, 61, and five others for questioning on December 5.

The US Justice Department also unsealed two indictments charging De Geetere and others with illegally exporting millions of dollars worth of US electronics - used in missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, electronic warfare receivers, and military radar - to entities in China and Russia.

According to one of the indictments filed in a Texas court, between March 2016 and February 2018 De Geetere and a Florida man, 62-year-old Eddy Johan Coopmans, conspired to smuggle export-controlled FPGA circuits to Russia and short-wave infrared surveillance cameras to China.

The Texas indictment charged De Geetere with one count of conspiring to smuggle goods and one count of conspiring to launder funds.

He's also been charged on three counts of making false statements and one count of smuggling goods in Oregon.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/12/07/belgian_russia_china_hardware/