Federal investigators say a university student studying in Canada took airport photographs for a Chinese contact he believed had government ties.
DETROIT, MI — A Chinese national studying at a Canadian university has been charged with making false statements after federal investigators said he gave conflicting accounts about photographs he took at Chicago O’Hare International Airport for a contact in China.
Weiheng Zeng, an undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, was arrested after attempting to enter the United States from Canada at the Ambassador Bridge on Aug. 23, according to a federal criminal complaint. The FBI alleges Zeng eventually acknowledged accepting paid assignments from a person he believed was connected to a Chinese security service. Zeng has been charged with making false statements, not espionage, and the allegations against him have not been proven in court.
The investigation centers in part on an April 21 visit to a FedEx facility at O’Hare. According to the FBI affidavit, security cameras recorded a man walking around a cargo parking area, taking photographs, climbing onto a forklift and trying to open locked equipment or vehicles. Investigators later linked the man and a dark blue Chrysler Town & Country minivan with Ontario license plates to Zeng. The affidavit says Zeng acknowledged climbing the forklift to get a better angle for photographs.
Zeng had entered the United States through Detroit on April 11, according to court documents cited by news organizations that reviewed the complaint. At the border, he told authorities he planned to visit his sister, a student in Chicago. Investigators said the O’Hare activity occurred about 10 days later. Zeng subsequently returned to Canada, while federal authorities continued investigating the incident and the vehicle seen near the FedEx facility.
When Zeng drove the same minivan toward the United States again in August, border officers stopped him for additional questioning. The affidavit says officers found numerous photographs of aircraft, including military planes, on his phone. Zeng initially described himself as an aviation enthusiast and said some of his photographs were connected with a flight-tracking website. Investigators said his explanation changed over several interviews with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and the FBI.
According to the complaint, Zeng eventually told investigators that a person identified in the court record only as a Chinese contact had asked him to photograph certain aircraft and tail numbers. He said the two had met through an online aviation community and that he received money for photographs. The affidavit says Zeng believed the contact had ties to Chinese government security and communicated with him through SIM cards that were periodically replaced.
Investigators also allege the assignments extended beyond Chicago. Zeng told the FBI that the same contact had previously asked him to photograph a FedEx facility at Toronto Pearson International Airport, according to the complaint. Zeng said he was confronted there and was able to photograph only the building’s exterior. He also told investigators that the contact had suggested locations in Orlando and Las Vegas, but court documents say he denied carrying out assignments in those cities.
The FBI affidavit says Zeng later gave investigators a different explanation for what the contact wanted. Rather than simply seeking unusual aircraft photographs, the contact was interested in airport locations and transportation logistics, Zeng allegedly said. The complaint also says the contact provided specific instructions for communications, including the use of SIM cards and deletion of messages and photographs. Those claims are allegations contained in the government’s filing and have not been tested at trial.
Federal prosecutors have treated the circumstances as a counterintelligence matter, but the criminal charge presently before the court concerns alleged false statements to federal authorities. Reporting on the case has described prosecutors raising concerns about what they characterized as possible espionage-related activity, but no publicly reviewed filing cited in the available reports shows that Zeng has been charged with a federal espionage offense.
Zeng appeared in federal court in Detroit and agreed to remain in custody while the case proceeds, according to reports citing court records. His family has publicly disputed suggestions that he knowingly worked as a spy. Authorities have not publicly identified the Chinese contact described in the complaint, and the available court filings do not establish that the person actually worked for the Chinese government. The investigation remains ongoing, and no verdict has been reached.
Author note: Last updated September 11, 2026.