A man from California has been apprehended for intending to ship thousands of dollars worth of ammunition and firearms to North Korea.
The smuggling breaches the existing restrictions on Asian countries and violates federal law and United States sanctions.
Shenghua Wen is the man at the center of the allegations. Law enforcement apprehended him. He is set to appear at the Central District of California this week to further the charges laid against him.
Wen is originally from China, and it was discovered during his arrest that he had overstayed a United States student visa. It is also relevant that he lacks any paperwork, licenses, or affiliation with the required bodies to ship any ammunition or firearms from the United States.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Homeland Security Investigations, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security investigate the Wen case.
California man arrested for arms smuggling
Wen is being reportedly charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which could land the international arms smuggler a maximum stay of twenty years in federal custody.
According to the report by the Justice Department, Wen is alleged to have had correspondence with prospective buyers in North Korea for arms and ammunition.
Law enforcement raided Wen’s home on August 14, 2024. They acquired two devices that he intended to “send to North Korea for military use: a chemical threat identification device and a hand-held broadband receiver that detects eavesdropping devices. On Sept. 6, law enforcement seized approximately 50,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition that Wen allegedly obtained to send to North Korea,” said the report.
As part of the seizure, law enforcement bodies reportedly discovered that Wen’s device, an iPhone, revealed that Wen successfully smuggled items from Long Beach to Hong Kong, with their intended destination being North Korea.
Messages on the device show Wen’s correspondence with the affiliated parties about shipping military-grade equipment to North Korea. Photographs show prohibited items as part of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
Wen also sent correspondence to a “U.S.-based broker about obtaining a civilian plane engine. There also were several text messages on Wen’s iPhone concerning price negotiation for the plane and its engine.”
Image: Pexels.
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