An engineer working for Becton Dickinson & Co. (NYSE:BDX) was arrested by the FBI, accused of planning to flee to India with company blueprints for a drug injection device.
The Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based healthcare giant worked with the FBI to detain former employee Ketankumar Maniar, suspending his work visa and providing information about his company email activity. After an attempted arrest at his residence, the FBI ultimately tracked Maniar down to a Holiday Inn in Ramsey, N.J., according to reports.
Maniar, who worked as an engineer at Becton company headquarters from February 2012 until he quit late last month. He was primarily responsible for dealing with external vendors and molding the pen technology he’s accused of stealing, according to court documents. Becton claims Maniar downloaded around 8,000 files related to the pen, which is still under development.
The FBI believes Maniar’s plan was to return to India with the blueprints, potentially worth millions of dollars, and then mass produce the device. He is currently being held in Newark without bail, because federal investigators fear he’ll fly the coop if given an opportunity.
The maximum sentence for Maniar’s could be 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the FBI. Becton released a statement assuring investors that the company carefully protects its trade secrets and that it will pursue the case in court.