China alleges former soldier shared secrets of troops, weapons with foreign spy agency

China’s top counterspy agency has announced the arrest of a military veteran suspected of helping send Chinese military secrets to a foreign espionage agency.

In a post on its official WeChat account on Tuesday, the Ministry of State Security (MSS) said Chinese national security authorities had uncovered a case of an individual colluding with a foreign agency to steal military secrets.

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.

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South Korean national arrested in China on suspicion of espionage

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.