(Yicai Global) June 13 -- German police did arrest a senior executive of a Chinese photovoltaic company yesterday, they confirmed to Yicai Global.

The person took flight LH727 from Shanghai to Munich, according to the police. It landed at 7.05 a.m. local time yesterday and the arrest was made at around 7.30 a.m.

The public prosecutor's office in Augsburg issued a pre-trial detention order for the executive who was brought before a district court judge at 2 p.m. and then released under conditions, the police said.

The person was a senior executive from a PV battery module firm based in Changzhou, Shanghai Securities News reported yesterday.

Only one person was taken away by the police and later went to a hotel in Munich, the China Photovoltaic Industry Association said on its WeChat account today. Reports of several executives of Chinese PV firms being involved were incorrect, it pointed out.

More than half of the passengers onboard the Lufthansa flight were Chinese working in the PV industry, and they were headed to Munich for the Intersolar Europe expo, another media report said.

Intersolar Europe is a world-leading solar industry exhibition, according to its website. Manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, service providers as well as project planners and developers gather in Munich every year to discuss the latest trends in the industry, see innovations first hand, and meet potential clients.

This was not the first case of a PV industry executive being arrested during the expo. German customs officials took away two Chinese citizens under arrest warrants during the event in 2019, a German news outlet reported.

According to the customs agency, one was accused of participating in smuggling PV products. The other was arrested near the expo and was a senior manager of a Chinese PV firm who was allegedly involved in smuggling solar cell modules to Europe, a spokesperson for the public prosecutor's office of Nuremberg-Fuerth said.

Editor: Martin Kadiev