The Ministry of State Security said it has foiled an attempt to smuggle gallium, and called for greater public awareness of the need to protect the nation's key mineral resources.

Gallium is a rare metal that plays a unique role in the manufacturing of computer chips, optic fibers and new-energy batteries, and also has military applications. China put the rare metal on its list of controlled substances for export in August last year in light of changing global situations.

On Monday, the ministry revealed on its official WeChat account that it had recently stopped a bottle of gallium from being smuggled out of the country, located the suspects and penalized them in accordance with the law.

The ministry said that upon receiving a tip, it stopped a passenger surnamed Du who was about to leave China, and inspectors found a bottle containing gallium in Du's carry-on baggage.

Authorities later found that Du was not aware that the bottle contained banned substances, and that a Chinese metal materials company employee surnamed Tang had asked Du to bring the bottle to a third person surnamed Fan outside China.

A further investigation showed that Tang, despite being aware that gallium is a controlled substance, had purchased it in China and entrusted Du with the risky task as Fan promised to pay them handsomely for the metal.

State security authorities later cooperated with law enforcement officers and punished Tang and Tang's company in accordance with the law, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, due to the fact the amount of the substance involved in the case was low and no real harm was done, Du was only reprimanded and educated about the rules on exporting controlled substances.

The ministry reaffirmed its resolve to protect the security of the nation's key strategic mineral resources and combat related foreign espionage activities. It asked the public to report suspected activities to local State security departments.

According to a study by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Geochemistry, as of 2022, China produced 90 percent of the world's gallium and has a reserve that makes up two-thirds of the world's total.