Henan taxi driver held for spying

Foreign agents reportedly recruiting young Net users

A 37-year-old taxi driver from Kaifeng, Henan Province has been arrested for spying and selling confidential military information to overseas intelligence agencies, local media reported on Monday.

The suspect, surnamed Duan, was recruited by an overseas intelligence agent surnamed Wang in July 2013. National security officers found he was frequently monitoring military installations in Kaifeng, Henan Television reported.

Duan was seized in July 2014 after being kept under long-term surveillance by State security organs. Local prosecutors have recently approved the arrest and Duan has confessed, according to the report.

It was the first espionage case disclosed by Henan authorities.

Wang got in touch with Duan via instant messaging service QQ after Duan posted his resume online, seeking a job with "good payment." Wang claimed that the job would be easy as Duan would only need to go to the premises of military installations in Kaifeng and keep notes of what he saw.

Duan frequently spent time in the vicinity of local military installations, especially military airports, collecting information, such as military vehicles' license plate numbers, aircraft models, frequency of aircraft take-off and landing, and weapons they carried. Duan then sent the information to Wang via encrypted e-mails.

The information collected by Duan may have exposed the army's combat capacity and troop movements, Henan Television cited security officers as saying.

To keep low-profile, Duan usually contacted Wang in early mornings and received training via the Internet. Wang also suggested Duan pursue further training abroad.

Duan received a 3,000 yuan ($483) monthly salary for the job and had earned over 40,000 yuan when he was caught.

Duan used his friends' bank accounts to receive the money and he always wore masks and caps when withdrawing the cash from ATMs, security officers said.

Veterans, students with overseas education background, college teachers and students, military enthusiasts and employees of the military industry and governments are prone to become targets of overseas intelligent agents recruiting for espionage works, said security organs.

The report also said that foreign spies have shown a tendency to recruit young Chinese netizens to gather military intelligence.

A court in Dalian, Liaoning Province recently jailed two men for selling military secrets, including hundreds of photos of the Liaoning aircraft carrier to foreign spies, local newspaper Dalian Daily reported on March 11.

According to China's Counter-Espionage Law, a citizen should report to security organs immediately after realizing they may have unknowingly conducted espionage for overseas intelligent agencies. Under such circumstances, the individual may not be prosecuted if they bring the activity to an immediate halt and demonstrate repentance for their actions.