A University of Waterloo undergraduate student has been arrested and is wrapped up in an FBI counter-intelligence investigation after allegedly photographing airport facilities in Toronto and Chicago at the request of someone he believed was a Chinese government official. Weiheng Zeng, a Chinese citizen, was arrested last month. Court documents filed in a U.S. District Court in Michigan were obtained by CTV News. They include a sworn affidavit from an FBI special agent. Suspicious activity at O’Hare According to the court documents, Zeng was issued a U.S. visa nearly four years ago and has entered the United States roughly 24 times since. He was first flagged by law enforcement following an April incident at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Security footage captured a man taking photos, climbing a forklift and allegedly attempting to open locked trailers at a FedEx facility. Investigators later linked Zeng to a dark blue Chrysler minivan with Ontario licence plates seen at the facility during the incident. When Zeng attempted to drive back into the U.S. in the same minivan on August 23, border agents pulled him aside at the Ambassador Bridge for a series of interviews with U.S. Customs officers and the FBI. Court documents state Zeng’s story was constantly evolving during questioning. When agents searched his phone, they found photos of aircraft and military planes, along with images of Zeng and others in tactical clothing holding rifle-style firearms. Zeng claimed the weapons were airsoft guns. Zeng admitted to trespassing at the O’Hare FedEx facility and confessed to previously trespassing at a FedEx facility at Toronto Pearson International Airport in 2025. He eventually told agents a contact he suspected was connected to the Chinese Communist Party assigned him specific planes and airport locations to photograph for “research.” Zeng initially claimed he had only made $100 from the setup, but later admitted to earning $500, paid in $20 to $30 installments per photo transferred to a Bank of China account. The affidavit states the contact mailed SIM cards to Zeng for communication, instructing him to destroy the cards and delete conversations and photos afterward. Zeng admitted his contact provided a cover story, telling him to say he was photographing rare planes, when the contact was actually seeking transportation logistics information and specific airport locations. Zeng noted he was asked to target additional locations in Orlando and Las Vegas, but only accepted the O’Hare and Pearson assignments. When FBI agents investigated the website where Zeng claimed to have met the contact, they found it did not exist. Zeng was formally arrested on August 26, days after his initial border questioning, and charged with making false statements to federal agents. The University of Waterloo stated it does not comment on ongoing criminal investigations. None of the allegations have been proven in court. With files from The Canadian Press
