The FBI on Thursday arrested a US soldier suspected of selling classified information to individuals based in China, the US Department of Justice has said.
Jian Zhao, an active-duty army supply sergeant stationed at a military base in Washington state, was accused of gathering classified hard drives and a computer taken from the US government to sell to unspecified individuals in China.
The thefts began in July last year and resulted in Zhao receiving at least US$15,000 in payment for the contraband.
Photo: Reuters
He was charged by a grand jury on suspicion of conspiring to obtain and transmit national defense information to unauthorized individuals, as well as bribery and theft of government property.
Zhao, with other accomplices, “knowingly and unlawfully conspire[d]... to obtain and transmit documents, writings, photographs, instruments, appliances and notes relating to the national defense of the United States to individuals not entitled to receive it,” the indictment said.
Two other suspects, identified by the FBI as active-duty US soldier Li Tian and former soldier Ruoyu Duan, were also arrested on Thursday on suspicion of theft of government property and bribery.
“The defendants arrested today are accused of betraying our country, actively working to weaken America’s defense capabilities and empowering our adversaries in China,” US Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
“They will face swift, severe, and comprehensive justice,” she added.
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