The Department of Justice alleges that illegal immigrants from China transported weapons from California to North Korea.
According to a new federal indictment filed in the Central District of California, Wen Shenghua and other unnamed co-conspirators “hid firearms and ammunition in shipping containers and transported at least two shipments. “We succeeded in exporting it to North Korea.” From Long Beach, California to Hong Kong, China, and then to North Korea. ”
According to court documents, federal agents on Aug. 14 removed from Mr. Wen's home in Ontario, California, “two devices that Mr. Wen admitted to having acquired to send to the North Korean government for military use.” It was confiscated.
Those items are the “Serstech Arx mkII Pharma Device – Chemical Threat Identification Device” and the “ANDRE Deluxe Near-Field Detection device,” which the complaint describes as “a device capable of detecting known, unknown, illegal, destructive, and hazardous substances.” It is described as a “handheld broadband receiver”. According to the manufacturer, it is “portable, non-alarming, and ideal for locating hidden eavesdropping devices.”
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Federal Bureau of Investigation Headquarters Building in Washington DC (Celal Goune/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
According to the complaint, on September 6, federal agents from a van parked in front of Mr. Wen's home “admitted that he had procured items for shipment to North Korea at the direction of North Korean government officials.” 50,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition were seized. Prosecutors said Wen “is a Chinese national illegally residing in the United States and is therefore prohibited from possessing any firearms or ammunition.”
According to the complaint, Wen entered the United States on a student visa in 2012 and remained in the country illegally after his visa expired. During questioning with law enforcement authorities, Mr. Wen said that before coming to the United States, he met with North Korean government officials at two separate North Korean consulates in China and asked them to procure goods on behalf of the North Korean government. He is said to have admitted that he was instructed to do so. “I'm good at smuggling.”
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The suspect allegedly told investigators that North Korean government officials wired approximately $2 million to purchase firearms and other products for the North Korean government. Wen told investigators he believed the North Korean government wanted weapons and ammunition for a possible attack on South Korea, according to the complaint. He is said to have stated that the North Korean government was requesting him to obtain military uniforms for use in surprise attacks.
Wen purchased an armory and a federal firearms license for $150,000 and listed his partner as the business owner on file with the Texas Secretary of State, according to the complaint.
The complaint says Wen had someone else buy the firearms, knowing that if he tried to buy them directly, the gun store would report them to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). That's what it means.
“Once the straw buyers gave Mr. Wen the firearms, Mr. Wen shipped them to California, packed them into shipping containers and shipped them to China, knowing that they would be handed over to North Korea,” the complaint said. ” states.
The complaint states that Wen “explained that he purchased many of the firearms sent to North Korea in Texas and drove the firearms from Texas to California on three separate occasions.”
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Wen allegedly told investigators that the shipments took place in October and December 2023.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles is scheduled to hold a press conference later Tuesday regarding developments in a “significant national security investigation.”
Read the complaint here:
