U.S. authorities arrested members of an alleged Russian spy ring Sunday who were posing as Canadian citizens, the U.S. Justice Department said Monday.
Eight "deep cover" agents working for the Russian Federation and two others on a similar mission were arrested by the FBI in New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts. Another suspect is still being sought.
Three of the agents had assumed identities as Canadians named Donald Howard Heathfield, Tracey Lee Ann Foley and Patricia Mills.
Most of those arrested are alleged to be "illegals," Russian intelligence officers who had assumed the identities of Americans in order to avoid detection.
The names in the indictments -- including Richard Murphy, Patricia Mills and Donald Howard Heathfield -- are almost certainly aliases.
Two of the "Canadians" -- Heathfield and Foley -- were arrested in Boston on Sunday.
The pair, who are reportedly married, were scheduled to appear in court in Boston Monday.
Both suspects claimed to be born in Canada, but have lived in the U.S. since 1999.
Mills was arrested at a home in Arlington, Virginia, along with Michael Zottoli, another alleged Russian agent.
They were also expected in court Monday.
Mills, who was reported as a Canadian citizen, was married to Zottoli.
They are said to have moved to Arlington from Seattle in October.
While the accused are suspected of being "unlawful agents of the Russian Federation," nine of the suspects -- including the three who posed as Canadians -- are also facing money laundering charges.
The conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government within the U.S. carries a possible prison term of five years.
The money laundering conspiracy charges, however, carry a stiffer maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
The arrests stemmed from a "multi-year investigation" by the FBI, U.S. Attorney's Office in New York and departments within the U.S. Justice Department's national security division
Source: National media