A Chinese student studying in Canada has been arrested in the US for espionage-like activities as he was seen taking photographs of planes, freight, etc.
Weiheng Zeng, an undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, was arrested in Michigan on August 23 after crossing the Ambassador Bridge between Canada and the US. A man was seen taking photographs at a FedEx cargo facility on April 21, according to an affidavit filed in a Michigan court. About four months later, on August 23, Zeng attempted to enter the US again in the same vehicle. The contact supplied aircraft tail numbers and allegedly paid him between $20 and $30 for each photograph.
What followed were three interviews in which, according to the affidavit, Zeng gave investigators increasingly detailed and conflicting accounts of what he had been doing. Initially, Zeng said he had travelled to Chicago to photograph aircraft. He had told US customs officers that he was visiting his sister. Zeng told investigators the weapons were airsoft guns and said he had been photographing aircraft models for a flight-tracking website. During a later interview, he reportedly said he had photographed planes landing at O’Hare from a public parking lot. Zeng allegedly told them that a Chinese contact had approached him through a website used by aviation enthusiasts and asked him to photograph specific aircraft. The contact also sent Zeng SIM cards to use for communications, according to the affidavit. Zeng said he would destroy the cards and delete conversations and photographs after completing assignments. He told investigators that he had accepted assignments at O’Hare and Pearson, but rejected requests to photograph locations in Orlando and Las Vegas. The Chinese contact initially presented the assignments as aviation “research”, with Zeng allegedly told to photograph rare aircraft. Zeng also allegedly told the FBI that the contact had sent him a photograph of a badge and videos showing scenes that appeared accessible only to security officials.
A Chinese student studying at a Canadian university has been arrested in the United States after US authorities accused him of taking photographs at airports and freight facilities at the request of a person he allegedly believed was connected to the Chinese government. Zeng has been charged with making false statements to federal authorities. He has not been charged with espionage, and the allegations contained in an FBI affidavit have not been tested in court. The case began with an incident at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in April. The man allegedly climbed onto a forklift and attempted to open locked trailers. Investigators later linked the incident to a dark blue minivan with Ontario licence plates. He was pulled aside by border officers and questioned before FBI agents became involved. Agents searching his phone allegedly found photographs of aircraft, including military planes. They also found photographs of Zeng and other people wearing tactical clothing and holding rifle-style firearms. He also denied having military training. He subsequently acknowledged going to the FedEx facility and climbing onto a forklift to take photographs. But investigators say the most significant details emerged during a third interview. But investigators say Zeng eventually acknowledged that the aircraft explanation was a cover. The contact was allegedly interested instead in transportation logistics and photographs of specific locations around airports.
The affidavit also alleged that Zeng had previously trespassed at a FedEx facility at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada, where he was caught.
Zeng had been communicating with the contact for about three months beginning in late 2024, according to the affidavit.
He said the person eventually asked him for “help”, and he agreed because he thought it was “cool. The alleged payments were made through transfers to a Bank of China account, the affidavit says. Investigators also discovered that the online forum where Zeng said he had met the contact apparently did not exist. “If my brother is a Chinese spy, then I’m Trump’s father,” Meixuan Wang wrote in a social media post on Wednesday. Wang told the Globe and Mail that her brother is just obsessed with airplanes and has autism spectrum disorder.
Zeng’s sister denied the allegations that her brother is knowingly involved in espionage for Beijing. Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.