A Student Said He Was a Hobby Plane Spotter. He Was Allegedly Taking Photos for the Chinese Government
Court records allege Chinese student Weiheng Zeng photographed facilities near Chicago's airport at a suspected Chinese official's direction.
Zeng, a Chinese national studying in Canada, entered the United States earlier this year and initially claimed he took photos of planes for an aviation fan website. He later admitted a suspected Chinese government official gave him specific U.S. locations to photograph, and repeatedly instructed him to destroy the SIM cards used to communicate and to stick to a Huawei phone.
- Photography targeted facilities near Chicago's airport
- Handler instructed use of a Huawei phone and repeated SIM card destruction
Full article166 words · extracted from 404media.co · click to collapse
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· Aug 26, 2026 at 3:46 PM
Weiheng Zeng originally said he took photos of planes for an aviation fan website. Later he admitted a suspected Chinese government official had given him specific locations in the U.S. to go photograph.
A Chinese national studying in Canada allegedly crossed over into the United States earlier this year to take photos of facilities near the Chicago airport at the direction of a suspected Chinese government official, according to newly filed court records. The Chinese official repeatedly told the student to destroy the SIM cards they used to communicate and stick to a Huawei phone.
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Text extracted automatically; images, tables and formatting may be missing. Original: https://www.404media.co/a-student-said-he-was-a-hobby-plane-spotter-he-was-allegedly-taking-photos-for-the-chinese-government/