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Chinese man to serve jail time in US over smuggling charges

US Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, DC.

A Chinese man has received a 30-month prison sentence in America over charges of smuggling military equipment to his homeland, the US Justice Department says.

According to the Thursday announcement that followed an eight-month investigation, Kan Chen, who was arrested last year on the Pacific island of Saipan, will serve his time in a federal prison.

After being released, Chen will spend another three years under supervision in the US.

The 26-year-old pleaded guilty to a list of conspiracy charges in March. He was accused of violating the Arms Export Control Act and International Traffic in Arms Regulations as well as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Court documents suggest that Chen had managed to export more than 180 illegal military items with a total value of over $275,000.

He managed to hide his business from US law enforcement agencies for about two years.

Advanced night vision and thermal imaging scopes that could be fitted on military rifles were among the many sensitive items that Chen had smuggled out of the US.

American investigators have yet to determine the sources from which the young Chinese national had procured the items.

"The United States will simply never know the true harm of Chen's conduct because the end users of the rifle scopes and other technology are unknown," said US Attorney Charles M. Oberly III.

"It is important that we take all necessary steps to prevent our military technology and equipment from being exported and possibly used against our service members and our allies overseas," he added.

Washington has been obsessively going after Chinese nationals and in some cases American citizens which it suspected of having secret ties with Beijing.

In May, the US Navy pressed espionage charges against Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin, accusing him of passing US military secrets to China and Taiwan.

According to the Navy, he also made false official statements, mishandled classified information, communicated defense information, and failed to follow lawful orders.

Lin, 39, became a US citizen in 1998 and joined the Navy a year later. He was chosen for Officer Candidate School in 2002, served as a flight officer in one of the Navy's most secretive units, Special Projects Patrol Squadron Two (VPU-2) before being arrested.

Lin’s defense lawyer Larry Youngner has said his client was entrapped in a "nefarious scheme" by government officials.


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