LOS ANGELES: A Chinese woman was jailed for one year on Friday after pleading guilty to attempting to smuggle sensitive military-grade technology to her homeland, justice officials said.

Qing Li was also fined $7,500 after admitting a charge of conspiring to illegally export accelerometers used for measuring shockwaves back to China.

The accelerometer, manufactured by California-based Endevco, is designated as a defence article by US authorities and cannot be exported without permission from the State Department.

Qing was arrested after a sting operation between April and October last year, where she negotiated with an undercover Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent about delivering an accelerometer to China. Court documents said Qing had conspired with an individual identified as “Wang,” who wanted the technology for a “special” scientific agency in China.—AFP