The US Court for the Eastern District held a preliminary hearing for Ma Lisong, a Chines resident who was arrested in an undercover sting operation by the US Homeland Security Department and charged with trying to export carbon fiber to China without a license.

The hearing's presiding judge granted a request by Ma's lawyer for a 30-day postponement in sending the case to a grand jury. Ma was arrested in Los Angeles on April 2 as he planned to fly to China. He is being held without bail.

The export of carbon fiber, which has nuclear applications in uranium enrichment as well as applications in missiles, is controlled by the US Department of Commerce (DOC). If convicted, Ma faces up to 20 years in prison.

"My client is innocent," Hai Ming, Ma's lawyer, said after the hearing. "DOC has the wrong person."

Ma was arrested in an undercover operation that used a website operated by the investigation unit of the Homeland Security Department.

According to the complaint filed in the Eastern District Court on Monday, starting on Feb 24, 2013, Ma engaged in a series of e-mails from China and conversations over Skype with an undercover agent who operated the website that where controlled commodities can be purchased. Because he couldn't speak English, Ma used a relative to interpret for him, according to the complaint.

Ma said he wanted to purchase five metric tons of three different types of carbon fiber: T-300, T-400 and T-700.

Later that month, during a conversation over Skype, the undercover agent, told Ma an export license would be needed, and sent him an application to complete.

"We use in production of floor heating and bicycle frame," Ma was quoted in the complaint as telling the agent. In a subsequent conversation with the undercover agent, Ma said he wanted the fiber for fishing rods and electric blankets, according to the complaint.

On March 27, Ma met the undercover agent at a warehouse in Brooklyn and purchased a sample of another type of carbon fiber, T-800, for $400. He asked that it be shipped to China by Federal Express, that the mailing label should say "clothing" and the form was not to be checked to indicate a license was required for it to be sent.

The package was intercepted before it could be sent to China, and Ma was subsequently arrested.

Ma's lawyer said in an interview that the undercover agent invited Ma to the US for the Brooklyn meeting, and lured Ma into buying the higher quality carbon fiber T-800. He said that Ma didn't know the fiber could be used for military applications or in developing a nuclear weapon.

Hai said Ma only has middle-school level education, equivalent to the ninth grade in the US, and had no idea what kind of situation he was "dragged in".

He said Ma only wanted to produce finishing rods, bicycles and floor heating cable.

Hai said US authorities have kept asking Ma who instructed him to purchase the fiber and export it to China, "but there is no one behind Ma. Only Ma's family, his wife and his 10-year-old son are waiting for him to come back home"

"My client was not the person they should catch," Hai said.

Hai said he is seeking to get the US Attorney's office to withdraw the arrest warrant and drop the charge.

"I hope the US Attorney could understand my client is innocent, and drop the case so my client could go back to China and reunion with his family," Hai said.

haidanhu12@chinadailyusa.com