Arms-smuggling Taiwanese duo snared in FBI sting plead guilty
Pair claimed to be acting on behalf of Beijing official when they tried to send hi-tech military gear to mainland; HK 'mastermind' awaits trial
Two Taiwanese accomplices of an alleged Hong Kong smuggling mastermind face decades in US prisons after being caught trying to export high-grade military technology to mainland China.
The pair claimed to be acting on behalf of a senior Beijing official when they were snared in an FBI sting, FBI reports and legal documents seen by the Sunday Morning Post show.
Charlie Shen Hui-sheng, 47, and Alice Chang Huan-ling, 43, pleaded guilty in a New Jersey court on Monday to both the arms charge and their involvement in a drug-smuggling operation led by Hongkonger Kow Soon-ah. Kow was extradited to the United States from the Philippines in 2012 and faces 14 drug and contraband charges that could see him jailed for life.
The reports and court documents show how both drug and arms smuggling operations came undone at the hands of undercover agents. The FBI officers infiltrated Kow's syndicate over three years, posing as individuals capable of moving illicit materials past US authorities.
These people ... come from Beijing … They work for Beijing government
The agents worked their way into the good graces of the gang in 2009 after reaching an agreement with then-72-year-old Kow to move millions of dollars of contraband, such as cigarettes and footwear, from China to the US.