(CNN) A Chinese national has been charged in the United States for conspiring with an entity affiliated with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to illegally ship devices used in anti-submarine warfare to China.

Shuren Qin, a permanent resident of the United States living in Massachusetts, was purportedly tasked in 2015 by the Xi'an-based Northwestern Polytechnical University (NWPU) -- which authorities call a "Chinese military research institute" -- to "obtain items used for anti-submarine warfare from the United States."

Federal prosecutors allege that the 41-year-old Qin shipped 78 hydrophones -- devices used to detect or monitor sound underwater -- to the NWPU from July 2015 to December 2017.

Qin was arrested on Thursday last week and indicted Tuesday on one count of conspiracy to violate US export laws and regulations and two counts of visa fraud.

According to the NWPU website, the university is affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It claims to be "the only multidisciplinary and research-oriented in China that is simultaneously developing education and research programs in the fields of aeronautics, astronautics, and marine technology engineering."

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