BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz authorities say they have detained two alleged members of a terrorist group who were carrying $56,000 in counterfeit bills.

Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said on January 25 that the suspects, whose identities were not disclosed, had been detained on January 20.

It said the counterfeit U.S. currency they were carrying had been printed in Turkey.

The UKMK also said that two Kyrgyz citizens residing in Istanbul, Mansur Suvanov and Ilias Sabirov, were suspected of being connected to the two detained suspects.

Sabirov is wanted in Kyrgyzstan for alleged involvement into a terrorist attack against the Chinese Embassy in Bishkek last year.

On August 30, three Kyrgyz nationals were injured after a suicide bomber rammed his car into the Chinese Embassy compound and detonated an explosive device inside the vehicle.