A hardware engineer, who until recently worked at Apple, was arrested at the San Jose International Airport while attempting to board a flight to Beijing. Xiaolang Zhang has been charged with stealing trade secrets from Apple surrounding Project Titan. 

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Project Titan is Apple's secret project, where the Cupertino giant is currently working on autonomous car technology. Zhang was a hardware engineer for the project and is now facing charges of Theft of Trade Secrets, with penalties of upto 10 years of imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment and three years of supervised release. 

According to the filing, Zhang was designing and testing circuit boards to analyse data from various sensors on the self-driving car. This granted Zhang access to the database that contained trade secrets and other intellectual property. 

In April, Zhang left Apple and was visiting his family in China. He informed the company that after he returns, he would be leaving the company and would continue to live in Guangzhou. He also informed his supervisors at the meeting that he would be joining Chinese electric car startup XMotors. 

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After Zhang turned in his company-issued devices, Apple noticed unusual download activity which led them to believe that he may have obtained sensitive data from Project Titan. Security Cameras and badge swipes also placed him in company labs during his alleged paternity leave. He later admitted being in the Apple's hardware labs and stealing two circuit boards and a Linux server. 

Moments B4 flight to Beijing, ex-#Apple worker Xiaolang Zhang nabbed by @FBISanFrancisco at @FlySJC for stealing autonomous-vehicle trade secrets while on paternity leave, per @USAO_NDCA. Zhang told agents he intended to work for @xmotorsglobal & air-dropped data to wife's laptop pic.twitter.com/TRKC3lZmzu

All evidence was submitted to the FBO after Apple discovered that at least 60% of the downloaded data on his wife's computer, had trade secrets. The report says that the FBO describes the information as “largely technical in nature, including engineering schematics, technical reference manuals, and technical reports.”

Apple released a statement and explained that it is working with authorities to make sure Zhang is held responsible for his misdoings. 

“Apple takes confidentiality and the protection of our intellectual property very seriously,” company spokesman Tom Neumayr said in an email. “We're working with authorities on this matter and will do everything possible to make sure this individual and any other individuals involved are held accountable for their actions.”