US tour operator sentenced to 4 years in prison after he was caught spying for China

San Francisco based tour operator who gave sensitive information to China as well as facilitated the operations of Chinese double agents on the US soil was sentenced to four years in prison for spying on March 17. Edward Peng Xuehua worked for the Beijing's Ministry of State Security resided in the US as a tour operator, international media reported. 

Xuehua was arrested in 2019

Xuehua, a neutralized US citizen was arrested in September 2019 in Hayward, California for reportedly arranging transfers of money and SD cards loaded with stolen classified information in different locations across the US on behalf of China’s premier intelligence body. 

According to the court filings, Xuehua was exposed by the US' “double agent operation” targeting MSS. The operation led them to the Chinese spy who, in 2015 was first seen picking up SD cards with US secrets from a hotel which the double agents, with instructions of his ‘handlers’, had left inside a book in Newark, California. A few months later, he was seen at the same hotel picking up an information loaded SD card that was hidden inside another book. He then went to Beijing, where he reportedly handled the SD card to MSS officials.

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According to reports, the FBI, between 2016 and 2018 saw him either picking up sensitive information or leaving money for Chinese double agents across the San Fransico and Columbus area in Georgia. Following his capture, Xengua pleaded guilty in a federal court in Oakland, California to charges of "illegally acting as an unregistered agent for a foreign government." The judge sentenced him to 48 months in prison and a $30,000 fine, short of the 10 years and $250,000 fine allowed.

According to reports, the 56-year-old first came to the US in 2001 and stayed there as a non-immigrant worker. In 2006, he married and acquired permanent citizenship. He had a registered business named, US Tours and travels which served Chinese students coming to the US. 

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Assistant Attorney General for National Security, John Demers, in a statement, said, "This case exposed one of the ways that Chinese intelligence officers work to collect classified information from the United States without having to step foot in this country. He added that Xengua "is now being held accountable for his criminal actions and his betrayal of his oath of citizenship,"

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