TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian police have arrested two men and are seeking two others for exporting controlled goods and technologies intended for space satellite use to China in violation of export and defense laws.

Three of the men are linked to Waterloo, Ontario-based Teledyne DALSA Inc, while the fourth works for one of the Chinese companies involved in the transaction, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said late on Monday.

“These contracts involved a state-owned corporation and a Chinese-based company founded by two of the accused to create microelectronics destined to enhance space satellite camera technology,” the RCMP said in a statement.

The charges came two years after the Canadian government asked police to investigate controlled goods being shipped between Canada and China in violation of Canada’s trade laws, which restrict the export of sensitive defense and security-related technologies.

Ottawa requested the investigation after receiving a complaint from Teledyne DALSA. According to its website, the company is a manufacturer of digital imaging products and semiconductors, specializing in “integrated circuit and electronics technology, software, and highly engineered semiconductor wafer processing.”

The RCMP said it had charged Arthur Xin Pang and his company, Global Precision Inc, and Binqiao Li with theft and fraud, among other charges, and Nick Tasker and his company, 3D Microelectronics Inc, and Hugh Ciao with fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud, among other charges.

Pang and Li, who are Canadian residents, have been arrested, while arrest warrants have been issued for Tasker, a British resident, and Ciao, a U.S. resident, the police said.