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China-Japan-Koreas
Two charged with trying to smuggle U.S. military aircraft to China
2012-05-03
Chang and her alleged Taiwanese co-conspirator, Hui Sheng Shen, allegedly wanted to arrange the theft and exportation of an E-2 Hawkeye early warning aircraft
The 41-year-old Taiwanese woman, having already arranged to smuggle a kilo of 93.7 percent pure crystal methamphetamine into the United States, was ready to move on to something bigger, authorities say.

"I got a message for you: A guy want(s) to buy a plane," Huan Ling Chang allegedly said in September during a phone conversation being secretly recorded by the FBI.

"It's, uh, early warning aircraft," she added a beat later, authorities say.

To be precise, Chang and her alleged Taiwanese co-conspirator, Hui Sheng Shen, allegedly wanted to arrange the theft and exportation of an E-2 Hawkeye early warning aircraft used by the American military, according to a 12-page federal complaint unsealed Wednesday in Newark.

According to the complaint, portions of which read like a tight spy novel, Chang, still talking to an undercover agent, got more specific about where the E-2 Hawkeye would go.

"If you guys are going to get the big toy, are you guys going to be in danger or anything?" she asked during the taped conversation, authorities say. "Because this aircraft, this big toy ... the buyer is not from Taiwan."

"Where is the buyer from?" the undercover agent asked.

"China," Chang said, as the agent instantly expressed concern over the phone. In turn, Chang allegedly exclaimed, "Big toy is a big trouble!"

Chang and Shen, aka "Alice" and "Charlie," appeared in shackles and dark green jailhouse-issued jumpsuits in a federal courtroom Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy L. Waldor. The pair, arrested in February and charged last month with illegally importing crystal methamphetamine, each now also face counts of conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act.

"My client asserts her innocence and we look forward to her vindication on all of the charges," Chang's attorney, Maria Noto, told reporters after the brief hearing.
Riiiight. Been sampling the earlier shipment, have we?
Ken Kayser, Shen's lawyer, declined to talk about the charges.

The government's complaint also alleges the two defendants met with an undercover FBI agent in Las Vegas in October. Chang came toting a notebook, it says, that listed the American military equipment sought by her Chinese "clients." She allegedly said the clients work in Beijing for "some kind of intelligence company for Chinese government -- like CIA."

The notebook included a seven-item list that allegedly included a "Missile engine -- latest type ... Navy -- lesser (laser) guide," a "Global Hawk RQ4A ... inferrate (infared) mounting system technology" and "Nuclear Information." No alleged prices were included in the complaint.
Perhaps while in prison she can take advantage of the educational opportunities for language skills improvement.
Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman pointed out Wednesday that the two defendants were originally nabbed on the crystal meth charges as part of federal investigators' massive takedown, announced last month, of some 29 defendants in one of the largest counterfeit-goods smuggling busts ever made and prosecuted. In that multicomplaint prosecution, authorities allege they've taken down an extensive operation that ran through Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal and included some $325 million of fake goods.

According to Wednesday's complaint, Chang and Shen returned to the United States in February to both "finalize negotiations" for large drug transactions and photograph U.S. military technology for China. They'd bought cameras, authorities say. As they met with undercover FBI agents in New York, they allegedly described how they'd keep from getting caught by law enforcement: They'd take the photos, then delete those photographs and bring the camera memory cards back to China. Once there, they said, "a contact" could recover the deleted pictures.

On Feb. 24, authorities allege, the two were shown manuals for the RQ-4 Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and the Raven RQ-11B Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Shen then talked about getting the Raven out of the U.S., the complaint says, by perhaps having scuba divers swim out to a ship docked offshore with parts from the Raven, or loading the parts onto a remote-controlled semi-submersible vehicle and rendezvousing with a ship. Then, the pair took some photos of the manuals, the complaint says. But before they could delete the shots, the feds put Chang and Shen in handcuffs.
Don't you hate it when that happens?

Posted by:

#5  Actually maybe we should let them have an E-2; about 30 minutes trying to get a stubborn Grumman Ironworks landing gear to swing right or a wing fold to work, would have them so frustrated they would be jumping over the side the their new boat.....(been there, wanted to do that)
Posted by: USN,Ret   2012-05-03 22:43  

#4  And possessing a physical copy of a Hawkeye would let them do a lot of reverse engineering so that they could produce a smaller carrier-capable AWACS than the Yunshuji-8. That would let them equip their new carrier with a useable AWACS that could travel with it and its Carrier Battle Group.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2012-05-03 21:31  

#3  Much different. Plus all of the cypher equipment got changed between 2002 and today, so none of what they had is still current.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2012-05-03 21:24  

#2  Didn't China get enough of a look at our surveillance aircraft back in the spring of 2001? How different is the E-2 from the EP-3?
Posted by: Glenmore   2012-05-03 17:28  

#1  Plans, schematics, blue prints? Why didn't they just come to the Burg?

Klik
Posted by: Besoeker   2012-05-03 11:14  

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