Washington, Feb 5 (IANS) An Indian American resident of Syracuse, New York has been arrested and charged with stealing trade secrets and proprietary information from his employer in order to establish a pharmaceutical company in India.

Shalin Jhaveri, 29, appeared before US Magistrate Judge George H. Lowe in Syracuse Wednesday and is being held without bail pending a detention hearing scheduled for Feb 8. If convicted, Jhaveri faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

According to the complaint, Jhaveri, a Technical Operations Associate at Bristol-Myers-Squibb since November 2007, stole numerous trade secrets as part of a plan to establish a pharmaceutical firm in India which would compete with the US pharma firm in various markets around the world. His services were terminated Feb 2 this year.

John Pikus, Special Agent In Charge of the FBI, noted that theft of trade secrets and intellectual property has become a matter of increasing importance for federal law enforcement agencies who must, necessarily, pool their resources to address the growing problem.