A Chinese national was sentenced to 30 months in U.S. prison for smuggling military-grade weapons to China, including sophisticated night vision and thermal imaging rifle scopes.
Kan Chen, 26, was sentenced Wednesday with illegally exporting or trying to export over 180 items that totaled $275,000 from the United States to China, the Justice Department announced in a release.
"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 U.S. Attorney Charles Oberly.
Prosecutors said Chen purchased the items on the Internet and mailed them to a reshipping service in Delaware, which then forwarded the packages indiscriminately to China.
The Justice Department warned that the military technology could have ended up in the hands of oppressive regimes or terrorists who would use the devices to harm U.S. troops or to carry out human rights abuses.
"These sophisticated technologies are highly sought after by our adversaries," said Acting Special Agent in Charge Gregory Nevano. "They were developed to give the United States and its allies a distinct military advantage."
Chen was arrested a year ago in Saipan. He pleaded guilty to three felonies in March.