U.S. authorities have arrested a Chinese employee of a technology manufacturer for allegedly smuggling uranium enrichment equipment into China.

Agents arrested Qiang Hu at a hotel in the northeastern state of Massachusetts.

He is suspected of illegally exporting thousands of pressure measuring sensors to China from MKS Instruments in Massachusetts.

The devices are used to enrich uranium and could be used in nuclear bombs.

The U.S. Justice Department says Qiang is MKS's sales representative in its Shanghai office.