( CNN ) Two Chinese men have been jailed for selling military intelligence , including hundreds of photos of China 's first aircraft carrier , to foreign spies , state media reported . According to the Dalian Daily , the two men , surnamed Han and Zhang , were sentenced to eight and six years in prison respectively earlier this year . The report said that Han , 30 , was approached by a person claiming to be a journalist via the instant messaging app WeChat . The `` reporter '' assigned Han to work in a military base , taking photos of `` sensitive areas '' of a major military project with his phone in the name of news gathering . Last summer , he traveled to Beijing and Liaoning , in China 's northeast , to take photos , including images of exhibits at a national defense technology promotion show . He later passed recordings and photos to his `` employer , '' the report said . `` Although the enemies ' tricks are cunning , they are totally preventable , '' the paper said . When contacted by CNN , Dalian 's Public Security Bureau confirmed the media report was correct but declined to give further details . The other man , Zhang , 23 , had sent more than 500 pictures of the Liaoning aircraft carrier , named after the province where it was refitted , to a person who claimed to be an editor with a foreign magazine before being detained last August . Two months earlier , Zhang had quit his original job for this better-paid side job , the paper said . The paper published photographs of their `` spying equipment '' -- iPhones , computers and cables . Some Internet users questioned whether it was really espionage to take photos of China 's aircraft carrier -- even former U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel visited the vessel in 2014 . `` I have photos of the aircraft carrier , too , '' one person with the handle @ gablio posted on Weibo , China 's equivalent to Twitter . `` When I flew from Dalian to Beijing two years ago , I saw the vessel clearly on the plane . Countless people have photographed it . ''
Two Han men have been jailed for selling military intelligence . Material includes hundreds of photos of China 's first aircraft carrier , the Liaoning . They were jailed for six to eight years .