Two US soldiers stationed in Washington were arrested for allegedly leaking classified information including weapons documents to China, reports said. Along with the two active-duty personnel, a former soldier from Oregon was also picked up in connection with the development, US media reports said.
The accused soldiers were identified by the Washington Post as Sergeant. Jian Zhao and 1st Lieutanant. Li Tian who were stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in western Washington. The ex soldier involved in the "crime against nation" was named Ruoyu Duan by the media. The trio reportedly stole data to be handed over to China as recently as December.
Zhao allegedly handed over around 20 hard drives and documents detailing missile-launcher technology and US military drills in the Indo-Pacific to Beijing while Tian collected and handed data on U.S. weapons systems to Duan. The information that the 1st Lieutenant managed to collect included those on Stryker armored vehicles, Washington Post said. Duan's role was receiving payment for the work done by Tian. He had secret-level cleranace that helped him access Google Drive links used to store manuals outlining the capabilities of the Stryker, an eight-wheeled U.S. Army combat vehicle. Tian identified the files to be handed over based on specefic demands from Duan, the FBI has found out.
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According to federal court documents, Duan is believed to have wired money to many others in the US Army although none other than the duo have ben named so far. He left the military in 2017 and has been residing in Oregon ever since, reports said.
More details are awaited.