FBI busts Taiwanese nationals “Charlie and “Alice” for trying to obtain US aviation for China; crystal meth scheme
This one has all the makings of bad spy novel. The FBI said two Taiwanese nationals have been charged for allegedly seeking to export sensitive US military technology to China after federal agents, who were investigating a counterfeit goods smuggling case, uncovered plots to smuggle drugs into and sensitive defense articles out of the United States.
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Hui Sheng Shen, aka “Charlie,” 45; and Huan Ling Chang, aka “Alice,” 41, were previously charged in connection with an alleged scheme to import 50 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine from Taiwan into the United States. Those charges arose as a result of parallel international investigations that also disrupted conspiracies to import hundreds of millions of dollars in counterfeit goods from China, the FBI said.
From the FBI: According to the amended complaint, approximately one kilogram of nearly pure crystal meth was purchased from Shen and Chang as part of an undercover law enforcement operation, which stopped the importation of dozens of additional kilograms of the drug. Based on relationships undercover law enforcement agents built with Shen and Chang, the two defendants allegedly provided a list of sensitive defense articles they sought to buy and planned to return to connections in China. The articles included unmanned aerial vehicles , E-2C Hawkeye surveillance airplanes, and stealth technology relating to F-22 jets.
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The FBI said that In September 2011, Shen and Chang asked whether their US contacts who were FBI undercover agents could obtain and pass along highly sensitive military technology, specifically, a Hawkeye reconnaissance aircraft, which the defendants instructed should be referred to as the “big toy.” During other recorded conversations, the defendants indicated their clients were interested in a range of American military technology. Shen, Chang, and an FBI undercover agent met in October 2011 in Las Vegas, where they discussed narcotics and the export of the technology. Chang provided the FBI with a list of specific military technology items they sought.
Then in February 2012, Shen and Chang returned to the United States to finalize negotiations for a series of larger drug transactions and to look at and photograph certain military technology that the FBI undercover agents said they had acquired. Shen and Chang met with FBI in New York to see a small US military drone, as well as manuals associated with other drones.
The FBI said Shen and Chang had purchased cameras for the explicit purpose of taking photographs of the defense technology. The pair planned to avoid law enforcement detection by taking photographs, deleting those photographs, and bringing the memory cards back to China, where a contact had the ability to recover deleted items. The defendants took the photos, but FBI agents were there to arrest them before the photos could be deleted.
The conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act charge carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The meth importation conspiracy and meth importation charges each carry a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $4 million fine.
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