TORONTO — A University of Waterloo undergraduate from Cambridge, Ont., is in American custody after U.S. authorities charged him with making false statements about photographing aircraft and cargo facilities at Toronto Pearson and Chicago O’Hare for a contact he believed worked for the Chinese government.Weiheng Zeng, a Chinese citizen born in 2004, was arrested Aug. 23 at the Ambassador Bridge while trying to enter the United States in a dark-blue Chrysler Town & Country bearing Ontario plate DBCZ063. He was charged Aug. 26 in Detroit federal court with one count under 18 U.S.C. § 1001. Zeng appeared Tuesday, spoke through a Mandarin interpreter, and consented to remain detained as a flight risk. None of the allegations have been proven in court.FBI special agent Robert Holbrook’s affidavit says Zeng was issued a U.S. B1/B2 visitor visa on Oct. 11, 2022 and has entered the United States approximately 24 times since then. On April 11 he told border agents he was visiting his sister in Chicago. Ten days later, surveillance at a FedEx facility next to O’Hare captured a man climbing a forklift, photographing aircraft and trying to open locked trailers. Investigators later linked the same minivan to the scene.During three interviews Zeng’s account changed. He first said plane photos on his phone were for a flight-radar hobby site. Agents also found images of Zeng and others in tactical clothing holding rifle-style firearms; he called them airsoft guns and denied any military training..He later told investigators he met the “Chinese Contact” on an aviation-enthusiast forum in late 2024. The contact assigned specific tail numbers, paid the equivalent of $20 to $30 per accepted photo in yuan via a Bank of China account, and mailed China Telecom SIM cards every four to five months for use in Zeng’s Huawei phone so communications bypassed Canadian networks. Zeng said he was directed to destroy the cards, delete chats and erase the pictures. He believed the contact was connected to a Chinese security service and thought the work was “cool.”The same contact allegedly tasked Zeng in October 2025 to photograph the interior of a FedEx building at Pearson. Zeng said a worker confronted him and he only captured exterior shots, then sent them anyway and received about $200. The contact also asked for freight-logistics details plus bus and train routes, and wanted photographs near airports in Orlando, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Zeng said he declined those extra assignments. He told the FBI he obtained Canadian permanent residency and ended the relationship about two months before his arrest.Assistant U.S. attorney Alyse Wu told the court Zeng’s “only known tie to this district appears to be using it as a crossing point to enter our country for what appears to be espionage-type activities.”Zeng is not charged with espionage. The case nevertheless raises questions about screening at Ontario universities and foreign-influence risks at airports and research institutions — concerns Western readers already follow in energy, mining and defence-related sectors.The University of Waterloo has not issued a public statement. Zeng’s next court date has not been announced.
