US couple nabbed for selling nuke warship info

WASHINGTON – A United States couple have been arrested in the state of West Virginia for allegedly selling information on nuclear warships to what they believed was a foreign state, said the Justice Department (DoJ) yesterday.

Jonathan Toebbe, who worked as a nuclear engineer for the navy, and his wife Diana, both in their 40s, were arrested by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents on Saturday and charged with violating the Atomic Energy Act in a criminal complaint, said DoJ in a statement.

For nearly a year, the couple “sold information known as restricted data concerning the design of nuclear-powered warships to a person they believed was a representative of a foreign power”, said the statement, adding that the recipient of the information was, in fact, an undercover FBI agent.

Toebbe, who had access to restricted data on nuclear-powered warships through his work, collaborated with his wife to exchange data on submarine nuclear reactors for around US$100,000 (RM417,500) in cryptocurrency, said the complaint affidavit.

It said Toebbe in April last year mailed a package to a foreign government “containing a sample of restricted data and instructions for establishing a covert relationship”, said the statement.

According to the complaint, the FBI intercepted the package, and the undercover agent posed as a representative of the foreign government to establish a relationship with the couple.

The agent sent Toebbe, who used the pseudonym “Alice”, an email offering him a gift as thanks for the data, but he responded with caution, asking instead to set up a “dead drop” location and be paid in cryptocurrency.

In the following months, the couple transferred multiple SD cards of data to the agent.

In the first dead drop, “the SD card was wrapped in plastic and placed between two slices of bread on half a peanut butter sandwich”, said the agent in the complaint.

Other SD cards were hidden in a chewing gum package and a sealed Band-Aid wrapper, with the Band-Aid still inside.

The couple were arrested after leaving another SD card at a dead-drop location.

US Attorney-General Merrick Garland praised the agencies involved for “thwarting the plot” and “taking this first step in bringing the perpetrators to justice”, said the statement.

The Defence Department declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

The couple are due to appear in a West Virginia federal court tomorrow.

US nuclear-powered submarines have been the subject of recent attention when Australia and Britain last month unveiled a new defence contract for such vessels negotiated secretly over several months.

To join the pact, Australia tore up a landmark multimillion-dollar contract with France, sparking an international row that saw Paris recalling its ambassador to Canberra. – AFP, October 11, 2021