An undergraduate student from Ontario is under suspicion of espionage following his admission, as per the FBI, of accessing airport facilities in Toronto and Chicago to take photographs on behalf of an unidentified individual from China. Weiheng Zeng, a Chinese national, was apprehended in Michigan on August 23 after crossing the Ambassador Bridge from Windsor, Ont., and charged with making false statements. Zeng, born in 2004 and studying at the University of Waterloo, has agreed to remain in custody pending his trial after appearing in a federal court in Detroit.
The suspicions surrounding Zeng were initially raised in April when security footage from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport showed him taking photos, climbing a forklift, and attempting to access locked delivery trucks and shipping containers. Zeng acknowledged climbing the forklift to capture better images during the incident. Investigators later connected Zeng to a dark blue Chrysler Town & Country minivan with Ontario license plates spotted on nearby CCTV footage.
During a subsequent attempt to re-enter the U.S. while driving the same vehicle, Zeng told border officials he was on a one-day trip to Chicago, but his story reportedly changed multiple times during interviews. When border agents discovered numerous photos of military aircraft on his phone, Zeng initially claimed they were for a flight radar website, citing plane photography as his hobby. However, further examination of his phone revealed images of individuals in tactical gear holding firearm replicas, which Zeng insisted were airsoft guns and denied any military affiliation.
According to court documents, Zeng eventually admitted to being paid by an individual referred to as the “Chinese contact” to photograph specific planes and their tail numbers, believing the contact to be associated with a Chinese security service. Zeng disclosed a complex communication method with the contact, involving the exchange of Chinese yuan via bank transfers, and periodic replacement of SIM cards in his Huawei cell phone. The SIM cards were allegedly sent by the contact every few months for communication purposes, with instructions to destroy them and delete related content after use.
In a separate interview, Zeng claimed that the Chinese contact had instructed him to take photos inside a FedEx facility at Toronto Pearson International Airport in October 2025. Despite being confronted by a FedEx employee, Zeng managed to capture external images of the building, which he sent to the contact in exchange for payment.
During court proceedings, a federal prosecutor argued that Zeng posed a flight risk due to being a foreign citizen with ties to the district primarily for entering the country for suspected espionage activities. Despite the allegations against him, Zeng consented to remain in custody during a court appearance, as confirmed through a Mandarin-language interpreter. The University of Waterloo has refrained from commenting on the matter, and local authorities have not been involved in the investigation. Requests for comments from the Chinese embassies in Ottawa and Washington remain unanswered.
The accusations against Zeng have yet to be proven in court, and details regarding his academic program and arrival in Canada remain unclear. For any news tips related to this story, contact CBC News senior reporter Thomas Daigle via email.