The Justice Department alleges that an unlawful immigrant from China shipped guns to North Korea from California.
Consistent with a untouched federal criticism filed within the Central District of California, Shenghua Wen, in addition to alternative 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 brokers on Aug. 14 seized from Wen’s house in Ontario, California, “two devices that Wen admitted he procured to send to the North Korean government for its military use,” court docket paperwork say.
The ones pieces have been a “Serstech Arx mkII Pharma device — a chemical threat identification device” and “an ANDRE Deluxe Near-Field Detection device,” which the criticism explains is “a handheld broadband receiver that detects known, unknown, illegal, disruptive, or interfering transmissions” and, in step with the producer, is “portable, non-alerting, and ideal for locating hidden eavesdropping devices.”

Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters development in Washington D.C. (Celal GüneÅ/Anadolu Company by means of Getty Photographs)
On Sept. 6, federal brokers additionally seized 50,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition from Wen’s van parked out of doors his house that the defendant allegedly “admitted he procured to send to North Korea at the direction of North Korean government officials,” the criticism says. Prosecutors mentioned Wen is “a Chinese national who is illegally in the United States and is therefore prohibited from possessing any firearms or ammunition.”
The criticism says Wen entered the US in 2012 on a scholar visa and stayed in the US illegally as soon as his visa expired. Right through interviews with investigators, Wen allegedly admitted that he met North Korean govt officers at two free North Korean Consulates in China earlier than he got here to the US and used to be directed to acquire items in the name of the North Korean govt, most probably as a result of they knew he used to be “good at smuggling.”

Federal prosecutors mentioned brokers seized gadgets from Wen’s house. (Justice Segment)
CHINA SENTENCES JOURNALIST FOR ESPIONAGE AFTER HE WAS DETAINED WHILE EATING WITH JAPANESE DIPLOMAT
He allegedly instructed investigators that North Korean govt officers stressed him roughly $2 million to buy firearms and alternative merchandise for the North Korean govt. Consistent with the criticism, Wen instructed investigators that he believed the North Korean govt sought after the guns and ammunition for a possible assault on South Korea. He allegedly mentioned that the North Korean govt sought after him to acquire army uniforms that they might virtue for a amaze assault.
The criticism says Wen bought an armory and a federal firearm license for $150,000 and indexed his spouse’s title because the trade proprietor to sign up with the Texas Secretary of Environment.
Figuring out that gun shops would flag the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) if he attempted to shop for firearms without delay, Wen mentioned he had others put together the purchases for him, in step with the criticism.

Gadgets seized from Wen’s house. (Justice Segment)
“Once the straw purchasers gave WEN the firearms, he transported them to California, packed the firearms into a shipping container, and shipped the container to China, knowing that it would be transferred to North Korea,” the criticism says.
Wen allegedly “explained that he purchased many of the firearms that he sent to North Korea in Texas and that he drove the firearms from Texas to California on three separate trips,” the criticism says.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Wen allegedly instructed investigators the shipments took playground in October 2023 and December 2023.
The U.S. lawyer’s administrative center in Los Angeles held a press convention Tuesday in regards to the construction in a “vital national security investigation.”
“The conduct alleged in this complaint is chilling. One of our foreign adversaries, North Korea, was running an operative in our country and using that operative to obtain high grade technology and military equipment, including firearms and ammunition. And the purpose of this allegedly, was to help conduct an attack on one of our allies, South Korea,” U.S. Legal professional Martin Estrada instructed newshounds.
READ THE COMPLAINT HERE: