Taiwan issues 8 year prison sentence to father, son in China spy case

Taiwan's apex court has sentenced a father and son to eight years in prison for enticing active military officers to pass on secret information about the annual Han Kuang drills to China.

The two suspects, surnamed Huang, first contacted Chinese intelligence officials in 2015, while doing business in Xiamen, according to Taiwan-based Central News Agency (CNA).

The Supreme Court of Taiwan rejected the final appeals on Thursday, making their sentences definite.

The court further ordered the High Court to conduct a new trial.

The suspects recruited two officers, Yeh and Su, in separate air defense and missile units, back in Taiwan.

After getting the documents promising allegiance to the cause, signed by them, Huang sent the two recruits of their spy ring on a trip overseas to meet Chinese officials.

Eight secret documents fell into the spy's hands

The group got their hands on eight secret documents about the Han Kuang exercises. Following this, they shared the information personally with China or sent images and graphics by phone messaging software.

The Huangs received USD 53,600 for their work, while Yeh was paid USD 6,582 and Su was paid USD 3,123, according to the prosecutors.

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Earlier in April, the Tainan branch of the Taiwan High Court ruled that the evidence was clear that the Huangs had broken the National Security Act, the Classified National Security Information Protection Act, and anti-corruption legislation.

The Taiwan Supreme Court on Friday, ordered the confiscation of the profits and sentenced Yeh to seven years, while Su to six years.

(With inputs from agencies)