Federal agents arrested on Tuesday a Chinese-born permanent resident of the U.S. for allegedly passing on sensitive defense-related data to China.

Sixing Liu, a 47-year-old former employee of a New Jersey-based technology company, allegedly exported hundreds of documents related to his firm's defense-related projects, according to reports.

The criminal complaint also alleged that Mr. Liu made a presentation at a technology conference in Shanghai, when he travelled to China without informing his company, according to the Wall street journal.

The report says U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents seized a computer from him on his return from China in November which contained sensitive data that cannot be exported without a license.

The company for which Liu worked has not been identified.