Chinese national arrested in California for allegedly shipping weapons to North Korea

A Chinese illegal immigrant was arrested in California on suspicion of sending weapons to North Korea in shipping containers.

A release from the Department of Justice revealed that Sheghua Wen, 41, was arrested Tuesday at his Ontario, California, home.

“It is essential that we protect our country from hostile foreign states that have adverse interests to our nation,” United States Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement.

Mr. Wen first came to the U.S. on a student visa in 2012, which expired in 2013.

A deportation order was issued against him in 2018 but never executed. California is a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants.

He said he was acting at the direction of the North Korean government to procure weapons and send them over, according to U.S. authorities.

In August, law enforcement seized two devices — a chemical-threat identification device and a device that detects eavesdropping — from Mr. Wen’s home and in September they seized roughly 50,000 rounds of ammunition that he was planning to send to North Korea.

“Wen explained that he met North Korean government officials at two separate North Korean Consulates in China before he came to the United States,” the complaint said.

“According to Wen, during these meetings at the North Korean Consulates in China, North Korean government officials directed Wen to procure goods on behalf of the North Korean government,” it read.

According to the complaint, he successfully sent two shipments of firearms and ammunition in October and December of last year to Hong Kong which were then smuggled into North Korea.

The complaint states that Mr. Wen believed North Korea’s communist government, whose only significant ally in the world is China, wanted the weapons and ammunition to “prepare for an attack against South Korea.”

To carry out the job he purchased a federal firearms license registered under another person’s name in Texas. He said the North Korean government sent him $150,000 to pay for the license. He said other people bought the firearms, which he then stored in California before shipping.

“WEN admitted that he knew sending firearms and ammunition to North Korea is illegal,” the complaint said.

He is charged with conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions on North Korea and if convicted could receive up to 20 years in federal prison.