Kazakhstan’s specialized environmental prosecutor’s office in the Karaganda region has uncovered large-scale illegal mining and the unlawful export of mineral resources worth billions of tenge.

According to prosecutors, a pre-trial investigation revealed that one enterprise in the region had been extracting iron ore without a license for four years and illegally exporting it abroad, The Caspian Post reports via Kazakh media.

Authorities estimate that the damage caused to the state exceeds 2 billion tenge. Three suspects have been taken into custody, while property worth more than 500 million tenge has been seized as part of the investigation.

The criminal case has already been sent to court for further consideration, marking one of the region’s most significant recent cases involving illegal mining and cross-border resource smuggling.