Two US Navy sailors have been arrested and charged with passing sensitive military information to the Chinese government in exchange for thousands of dollars in payments, prosecutors in California said on Thursday.

Jinchao Wei, who worked as a machinist’s mate at a naval base in San Diego, has been charged with sending photos and videos of an amphibious assault ship to an unnamed Chinese intelligence officer, as well as more than 50 technical and mechanical manuals and documents.

Wenheng Zhao, a petty officer who worked at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, was separately charged with providing sensitive military data to “an individual posing as a maritime economic researcher, but who was actually an intelligence officer from the PRC”.