The four individuals were arrested Saturday in the southwestern Gironde region after the two Chinese individuals allegedly rented an Airbnb as part of a plan to intercept data, including military intelligence, the Paris prosecutor's office said.

The two Chinese nationals allegedly travelled to France with the intent to capture data from the Starlink satellite internet system and other "entities of vital importance" and transmit it back to China, it added.

Their visa applications stated that they worked as engineers for a research and development company specialising in wireless communication equipment, it said.

The two other suspects were arrested over allegations they illegally imported the equipment, the prosecutor's office said, without adding details of their identities.

The probe, also involving France's DGSI domestic intelligence agency, focuses on the "delivery of information to a foreign power" likely to harm key national interests. This is punishable by up to 15 years behind bars.

The case was triggered after residents on January 30 spotted the installation of a satellite dish approximately two metres (around six-and-a-half feet) in diameter, which coincided with a local internet outage.

- China spying cases -

A search conducted the following day led to the discovery of "a system of computers connected to satellite dishes enabling the capture of satellite data".

The national radio frequency agency notably reported "frequency jamming" and "illegal possession of technical devices for capturing computer data".

The set-up made it possible to "illegally intercept satellite downlinks, in particular exchanges between military entities", the prosecutor's office said.

Several spying cases linked to China have rocked Europe in recent months.

In December, a French applied mathematics professor was charged with allowing a Chinese delegation to visit sensitive sites in a case of suspected espionage. The engineering institute where he works has been partially designated as a "restricted area" since 2019.

He has been released under judicial supervision, but faces charges of "providing information to a foreign power" and "colluding with a foreign power".

On January 22, the Czech police announced they had detained a person suspected of working for Chinese intelligence.

In Germany, an American citizen who worked at a US military base has been on trial since November for offering his services to a Chinese intelligence service.

The head of the UK's domestic intelligence agency MI5, Ken McCallum, warned in October that China poses a "daily" threat to Britain.