Chinese student in Canada allegedly photographed US military sites for Beijing

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A Chinese national studying in Canada allegedly crossed over into the United States earlier this year to take photos of facilities near the Chicago airport at the direction of a suspected Chinese government official, according to newly filed court records. The Chinese official repeatedly told the student to destroy the SIM cards they used to communicate and stick to a Huawei phone.

The records provide insight into how Chinese state actors continue to use students to essentially crowd source imagery of sensitive U.S. locations or military aircraft , and how those students are told to remain undetected.

Seamus Hughes of Court Watch first identified and posted the records on Wednesday.

Weiheng Zeng is an undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and has crossed into the U.S. around two dozen times since 2022, according to an affidavit from an FBI Special Agent .

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In April, an unknown person was seen inside the FedEx employee parking lot at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, the document continues. This person looked like they were taking photos of aircraft or other parts of the airport. They climbed onto a forklift to take photos in the direction of the aircraft, and tried to get into a FedEx truck, according to photos included in the document. Authorities later figured out this was Zeng based on the dark blue Chrysler Town & Country vehicle that left the area and that he was connected to

When Zeng tried to enter the U.S. again last Sunday, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) interviewed him repeatedly. At first, Zeng said he planned to travel with his sister and a classmate. CBP agents then reviewed his phone and found multiple photos of aircraft, the document says. Zeng told the agents “he takes pictures of model aircraft being tracked for a flight radar website,” it adds. At one point he said he takes the photos as his hobby. Agents also found photos of Zeng and others in tactical clothing holding rifle-styled firearms. Zeng said this was an airsoft gun.

Images: screenshots from the court record.

Zeng changed his story repeatedly, before revealing taking the photos was more than a hobby. Instead, he knows someone referred to in the court record as his “Chinese Contact.” This contact assigned Zeng specific planes and their tail numbers to photograph, and then paid Zeng $20 to $30 per picture. Zeng said this Chinese Contact sent him SIM cards to communicate, and then told him to destroy the cards, their chats, and delete the photos he took. Later Zeng said the contact told him to use his Huawei phone to communicate, and never take that phone into the U.S.

Zeng claimed the Chinese Contact approached him through “an aviation spotter website” around a year and a half ago, the document continues. Zeng said he believed this person was connected to the Chinese Communist Party, and later told the FBI the person sent a photo of an official looking badge. The language the contact used “was very organized and managed, not language typically used between friends,” the document adds. When the FBI later looked into this site, the agency found it appeared to not exist, according to the court record.

One of the photographed planes was an American United aircraft which had “a unique, temporary paint job, of which photographs were highly desired,” according to Zeng. The contact wanted Zeng to go to places in Orlando, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles to take photographs of specific locations around airports, the document says. Zeng said he denied these requests and accepted two tasks over 18 months. One of those was to get the photos of the interior of the FedEx facility at O’Hare International Airport. In all, he made $500, the document says.

“ZENG stated ‘Chinese Contact’ was not satisfied with the photographs and the photographs were fine, but not what were ‘expected’,” the document adds.