Two army soldiers are accused of selling military secrets

Two soldiers of the US Army in the US state of Washington and a former soldier were arrested on Thursday for bribery and theft, which were accused of conspiracy and selling sensitive government information, said the Ministry of Justice.

The accused were as first Lt. Li Tian, ​​a health service administrator, identified. Sgt. Jian Zhao, a Sergeant who was assigned to the 17th Feldartillerie brigade; and Ruoyu Duan from Hillsboro, Ore, who served in the army from 2013 to 2017. The two soldiers were stationed on the common basis of Lewis-McCchord in the state of Washington.

An indictment, Lieutenant Tian, ​​which was accused of Oregon on Wednesday before Oregon’s US district court, from November 2021 to December last year with Mr. Duan, the former soldier, to collect secretly classified information about the operations of the army, including technical manuals.

Lieutenant Tian collected sensitive information about the armored vehicles from Bradley and Stryker used by the army and sent this information in exchange for money to Mr. Duan, the federal prosecutor said.

Sergeant Zhao was accused in a separate indictment, which was submitted to the western district of Washington on Wednesday in front of the US district court to maintain and sell almost two dozen hard drives, some with the “secret” and “top secret” to buyers in China. According to the indictment, Sergeant Zhao accepted payments of at least $ 15,000 from July 2024.

“The accused arrested today are accused of having betrayed our country, actively working on weakening America’s defense skills and enabling our opponents in China,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi in a press release in which the arrests were announced. “You will be exposed to fast, heavy and comprehensive justice.”

It was not immediately clear whether one of the accused had lawyers.

Lieutenant Tian and Mr. Duan were accused of committing a criminal offense against the United States, bribing an official and theft of government property. Sergeant Zhao was charged with conspiracy to collect national defense information, bribery of an official and theft of government property.

In an encrypted exchange from October, Sergeant Zhao told an unnamed co -snack that he had the “good stuff” according to his indictment.

“Very sensitive document. It is super difficult to get, ”he said and referred to a document about Himars, a truck with several rocket. He rated the file for 3,000 US dollars. He drove a buyer about the price of two documents before deciding on 6,500 US dollars.

According to the Ministry of Justice, these documents did not contain classified but sensitive information about rocket systems and military readiness in the event of an armed conflict with China. In other cases, he sold buyers in China with the “top secret” or “secret”, said the public prosecutor. The specific content of these hard drives was not announced in the indictment.

“These arrests underline the persistent and increasing threat to foreign intelligence agencies for our army and nation,” Brig. Gen. Rhett R. Cox, the command of the commandant of the top body of the army said in the press release.