US: Indian guilty of selling defence info to China

Washington, Aug 10: A US federal court has found an Indian-American engineer guilty of selling sensitive cruise missile technology and other classified information to China.

Noshir S Gowadia, a former B-52 stealth bomber engineer, now faces life imprisonment as the jury in Hawaii found the 66-year-old guilty of five criminal offences related to his design for China of a low signature cruise missile exhaust system capable of rendering the Chinese a cruise missile resistant to detection by infrared missiles.

"Gowadia provided some of our country's most sensitive weapons-related designs to the Chinese government for money. Today, he is being held accountable for his actions," assistant attorney general for national security, David Kris said, in a statement.

"This prosecution should serve as a warning to others who would compromise our nation's military secrets for profit. I commend the many prosecutors, analysts, and agents - including those from the FBI and the Air Force - who were responsible for this investigation and prosecution," Kris added.

Gowadia, who was first arrested in Oct 2005 on a criminal complaint alleging that he willfully communicated national defence information to a person not entitled to receive it, will be sentenced on Nov 22, 2010.

OneIndia News