Investigators allege that the 63-year-old engineer copied documents on the submarines' defensive capabilities and removed them without authorization around February or March 2000 while working at the Defense Agency's Technical Research and Development Institute, the sources said.

The engineer, whose name has been withheld, told the police he gave the documents to an acquaintance, a 53-year-old former president of a trading company, according to the sources.

Investigators have confirmed that the acquaintance has been in contact with people who have military contacts in China and suspect he may have passed the information to them.

The Japan Times Weekly: April 9, 2005
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