China alleges former soldier shared secrets of troops, weapons with foreign spy agency
Ministry of State Security says accused was discharged from military due to disciplinary issues and has ‘certain ability for counter-surveillance’
China’s top counterspy agency has announced the arrest of a former soldier suspected of helping send Chinese military secrets to a foreign espionage agency.
The ministry said the arrest operation involved uncovering a fake identity and capture in dangerous terrain.
According to the ministry, an account called Dongye, or Winter Night, had “multiple times sent information about troop deployment locations, weapon configurations and the environment of barracks in a certain border area of China in the form of photos and videos to a foreign espionage agency” via a social media platform.
01:48
South Korean national arrested in China on suspicion of espionage
The Dongye account was registered to an 80-year-old man who lived thousands of kilometres from the border point and did not have the capacity to carry out such activities, according to the ministry’s post.
National security officers “meticulously sifted through” vast amounts of data, tracked leads step by step and eventually identified a suspect – a man surnamed Ni, who had served two years in China’s military – according to the post.