A Chinese national in California has been arrested on charges of arms smuggling. Shenghua Wen and two others who have not been identified are facing charges of smuggling weapons, ammunition, and equipment from China to North Korea.
The catch? Wen, along with possibly millions of other Chinese nationals, is in the United States illegally.
The Justice Department alleges that an illegal immigrant from China shipped weapons to North Korea from California.
According to a new federal complaint filed in the Central District of California, Shenghua Wen, as well as other unnamed co-conspirators, "successfully exported at least two shipments of firearms and ammunition to North Korea by concealing the items inside shipping containers that were shipped from Long Beach, California, through Hong Kong, China, to North Korea."
Federal agents on Aug. 14 seized from Wen's home in Ontario, California, "two devices that Wen admitted he procured to send to the North Korean government for its military use," court documents say.
Two devices, and a modest amount of ammunition - at least, by smuggling standards.
Those items were a "Serstech Arx mkII Pharma device — a chemical threat identification device" and "an ANDRE Deluxe Near-Field Detection device," which the complaint explains is "a handheld broadband receiver that detects known, unknown, illegal, disruptive, or interfering transmissions" and, according to the manufacturer, is "portable, non-alerting, and ideal for locating hidden eavesdropping devices."
On Sept. 6, federal agents also seized 50,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition from Wen's van parked outside his home that the defendant allegedly "admitted he procured to send to North Korea at the direction of North Korean government officials," the complaint says. Prosecutors said Wen is "a Chinese national who is illegally in the United States and is therefore prohibited from possessing any firearms or ammunition."
This brings up some serious questions.
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First: How many other Chinese nationals are in the United States and involved in this kind of operation? There are millions of people in the United States illegally, and it is known that many Chinese nationals entered the United States across our southern border. How many of them are involved in this, along with such things as illegal bio labs?
Second: Nobody leaves China without the approval of the Chinese government, by which we mean the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Wen reportedly left China on a student visa and overstayed the visa - by design?
Third and finally: Where are all the other Chinese nationals who have entered the country illegally, and what are they doing right now? How many of them are involved in similar activities?
In any kind of conflict, a few high-tech devices, a few weapons, and 50,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition won't amount to much in the event the stunted little gargoyle with bad hair from a long line of stunted little gargoyles with bad hair who runs North Korea starts feeling his oats and decides to, say, invade South Korea. If providing military logistical support to North Korea is the goal here, then this operation would have to be on a much larger scale than we know of from this one bust.
And, once again, we see a possibly dangerous crime committed by someone who was in the United States illegally, thanks to the Biden administration's non-existent border enforcement and immigration policies.
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