Associated Press
Two more Chinese nationals have been arrested for illegally taking photographs at a Florida Navy base, court records show.
The arrests over the weekend of Yuhao Wang and Jielun Zhang bring to four the number of Chinese people charged recently with snapping pictures at the Naval Air Station in Key West.
An FBI affidavit says Wang and Zhang drove up to an air station annex entrance and were told by a security officer they could not enter the property without military identification. The FBI says the pair drove onto the base anyway and were apprehended by authorities about 30 minutes later after taking photos of structures on the base.
The two had an initial court appearance on Monday and have bail hearings Friday in Key West federal court. Their attorneys did not immediately respond Tuesday to emails seeking comment.
The arrests follow two similar cases involving Chinese nationals taking photos at the Key West base. On Dec. 26, Lyuyou Liao was charged with illegally taking pictures at another annex of the Naval Air Station.
Liao, 27, is being held without bail. His lawyer argued at a recent hearing that Liao was on vacation taking pictures and that evidence of any crime is thin.
A fourth Chinese man, Zhao Qianli, pleaded guilty last year to illegally taking photographs at the same Florida Keys installation. Qianli, 20, was sentenced to a year in federal prison.
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
One comment
Ray Blacklidge
January 8, 2020 at 8:20 am
The rash of picture taking incidents by Chinese Nationals is not coincidental. Once the Chinese discovered that America would only put their operatives in jail for a year, it became an easy decision to send in as many information gathers as they could to obtain pictures of the military facilities. The rewards out weighed the risk. We should charge them all with Espionage. That felony conviction on the first guy would have deterred others.
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