A Chinese student at Ontario’s University of Waterloo is facing federal charges after he was allegedly busted taking pictures of airplanes at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport for a foreign contact.
Weiheng Zeng was studying in Canada on a B1/B2 visa when he allegedly lied to U.S. Border Patrol and FBI agents about a trip to Chicago in April, when he was captured on surveillance video snapping pics of planes from a FedEx employee parking lot at the airport, according to a 20-page complaint cited by The Detroit News.
The complaint, filed Wednesday in Detroit’s federal court, alleges Zeng eventually admitted to investigators he was paid about $500 by a contact he believed to be with the Chinese government to take the pictures, send them in, then delete the messages.
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. https://t.co/oIXLpte9YG
— Jeff Hall – PCI Guru – #StandWithUkraine (@jbhall56) August 26, 2026
The contact instructed Zeng to use a Chinese cellphone and SIM card to bypass Canadian networks, and to leave the phone and SIM card in Canada, the complaint alleges.
Investigators contend Zeng traveled to the U.S. about two dozen times since his visa was issued in 2022, including on April 11, when he went through the Ambassador Bridge to Chicago, and April 23, when he returned. The incident at the FedEx parking lot occurred on April 21.
Authorities identified the license plate of a Chrysler Town & Country in the parking lot and tied it to Zeng, before stopping his vehicle as Zeng, his sister, and a classmate attempted to reenter the U.S. at the Ambassador Bridge on Aug. 23.
Through three interviews, Zang offered a variety of excuses for taking pictures at the FedEx lot, claiming they were for a flight radar website, and he was an aviation hobbyist capturing a rare McDonnel Douglas MD-11 going out of commission, before admitting he sent images to an overseas contact he met on a Chinese online forum in late 2024, The News reports.
Zang also admitted to trespassing at a FedEx facility at Toronto Pierson Airport, where he was busted by an employee.
Investigators found photos of aircraft and military equipment during a search of Zang’s phone, as well as images of him and others “in tactical clothing and in tactical formations, holding rifle-style firearms,” the complaint read.
Zang claimed the weapons were airsoft guns.
Zang told authorities he believed his overseas contact was a Chinese government employee based on messages the contact sent of a badge and “videos of scenes that only security officials would have access to,” according to the complaint.
Zang alleged the Chinese contact also asked for details on freight flight logistics, bus and train routes, and asked him to take photos of areas around airports in Orlando, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles, though he claimed to have turned down those requests.
Zeng faces a five-year felony for making false statements, which also comes with up to $250,000 in fines.
The case follows others involving at least 11 Chinese nationals suspected of nefarious activity in Michigan in recent years.
In May, former University of Michigan student Chuan Wang was charged with making false statements to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents in 2023 about launching a company that builds drones for the Chinese military.
That case followed a mysterious death on campus in March involving Danho Wang, an assistant research scientist focused on “III-nitride Materials; Optoelectronic Devices; Photoelectrochemical Devices; Energy Conversion; Molecular Beam Epitaxy,” according to Wang’s profile on the UM website.
Ten days after Wang’s death, the Chinese Consulate General in Chicago confirmed the incident followed “questioning by US law enforcement personnel.”
In September 2025, Chinese UM PhD student Chengxuan Han pleaded guilty to multiple smuggling charges and making false statements about packages with biological samples of round worms she sent to individuals at a UM laboratory where she was invited to work, after she initially denying the crimes when questioned by the FBI and CBP in June 2025.
Han’s June 2025 arrest followed less than a week after US Attorney Jerome Gorgon announced charges of smuggling, false statements, and visa fraud against UM researcher Yunqing Jian, 33, and her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, 34, both Chinese nationals.
The duo were busted smuggling “a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon,” through the Detroit airport, according to the attorney’s office.
Another FBI counterintelligence investigation resulted in charges against five UM graduates from China in October 2024 for spying on Camp Grayling National Guard Base during a military training with Taiwanese soldiers the year prior.
Authorities allege the group was found with cameras near military vehicles, tents and classified communications equipment as soldiers conducted Northern Strike, one of the largest training exercises in the U.S.
The Chinese students left the country following graduation in May 2024, but have outstanding arrest warrants in the U.S.
The charges in that case came around the same time Haoxiang Gao, another Chinese national studying at UM, was charged with multiple felonies for illegally registering to vote and casting a ballot during the 2024 election.
Gao fled to China before he could be prosecuted for the crimes.
The repeated incidents prompted calls from Michigan Republican Congressmen John Moolenaar, R-Midland, and Tim Walberg, R-Lenawee County, for Michigan universities to end their ties with Chinese universities, citing concerns over national security and taxpayer-funded research being divulged to the Chinese military.
Officials at UM and Eastern Michigan University announced in 2025 they ended longstanding partnerships with Shanghai Jio Tong University, and Beibu Gulf University and Guangxi University, respectively.
