A California tour guide was charged Monday with acting as an illegal foreign agent for China.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement that Xuehua Peng, also known as Edward Peng, delivered classified U.S. national security information to officials working at China’s spy agency, the Ministry of State Security (MSS).
{mosads}Peng is a naturalized U.S. citizen who has worked as a tour operator for Chinese visitors in the San Francisco area.
He was arrested on Friday after allegedly conducting one dry run and at least five successful “dead drops” between October 2015 and July 2018, according to the DOJ.
“According to the allegations, Peng conducted numerous dead drops here in the United States on behalf of Chinese intelligence officers and delivered classified information to them in China,” Assistant Attorney General of National Security John Demers said.
“His arrest exposes and disrupts an operation by those Chinese intelligence officers to collect such information without having to step foot in this country.”
Peng, a resident of Hayward, Calif., allegedly retrieved classified information passed to him by a confidential source.
He is charged with using secret locations to deliver information and payments, and personally carrying secure digital cards to Beijing.