Undocumented Chinese immigrant charged with selling weapons to North Korea
Shenghua Wen was allegedly moving items to North Korea by concealing them in shipping containers; FBI
(LONG BEACH, Calif.) — An undocumented Chinese national living in the U.S. has been charged with procuring and shipping guns, ammunition and electronics to North Korea, according to federal prosecutors.
Prosecutors say Shenghua Wen was allegedly moving items to North Korea by concealing them in shipping containers from Long Beach, California, through Hong Kong and then to North Korea.
Federal agents in August seized two devices from Wen’s home that he had allegedly planned to send to North Korea for its military use — a chemical threat identification device and a handheld broadband receiver, according to a criminal complaint.
In September, over 50,000 rounds of ammo were found in Wen’s vehicle that he allegedly admitted were heading to North Korea, the complaint says.
Wen entered the United States on a student visa in 2012 and never left, according to the complaint.
He allegedly met North Korean officials in China before he came to the U.S., the complaint alleges. He was then directed to procure goods on behalf of North Korea.
Being in the U.S. illegally, Wen knew he could not buy the goods so he allegedly used other people to purchase the guns through straw purchases, prosecutors say.
(NEW ORLEANS, LA) — The suspect in a deadly attack on New Year’s revelers in New Orleans has been identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S.-born citizen and U.S. Army veteran from Texas, according to the FBI.
At least 15 people were killed and over two dozen injured after a man drove a Ford pickup truck through a crowd on Bourbon Street at a high rate of speed early Wednesday, multiple law enforcement sources and Louisiana Rep. Troy Carter told ABC News.
Authorities are working to determine whether the deceased suspect had any affiliation with terrorist organizations after an ISIS flag was found tied to the truck’s trailer hitch, the FBI said.
After barreling through the crowd over a three-block stretch, the suspect allegedly got out of the truck wielding an assault rifle and opened fire on police officers, law enforcement officials briefed on the incident told ABC News. Officers returned fire, killing the suspect, police said. At least two police officers were shot and wounded, authorities said.
“This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could,” New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said at a press briefing on Wednesday afternoon. “It was not a DUI situation. This is more complex and more serious.”
She said the driver was “hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did.”
Weapons and potential IEDs were located in the suspect’s vehicle and other potential IEDs were located in the French Quarter, according to the FBI, which is leading the investigation. As of now, two IEDs have been found and rendered safe, the FBI said. Investigators found homemade pipe bombs at the scene of the Bourbon Street attack, law enforcement sources told ABC News. The crude devices contained coils and nails, the sources said. Authorities also found a grenade, which is among the items tested for viability, sources said.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell described the horrific incident as a “terrorist attack” and the FBI said it was being investigated as an act of terror.
The suspect is not believed to be “solely responsible” for the attack, according to the FBI, which said it is pursuing leads to identify any of his associates.
New Orleans police have reviewed surveillance video that appears to show several people planting potential explosive devices in advance of the vehicle ramming, leading the FBI to conclude the driver of the pickup truck did not act alone in the attack, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Investigators are urgently working to identify the individuals who were seen on camera and take them into custody, the sources said.
Jabbar is believed to have been discharged honorably from the Army, though investigators are still looking into his military record, the FBI said.
Carter told ABC News that the suspect appears to have “lived or spent some time” in the New Orleans area.
“My understanding is there may have been some identification that indicated that the suspect had a local residence and so that information is being tested,” he said.
The vehicle had a Texas license plate, according to Carter.
The truck used in the attack appeared to be a Ford F-150 Lightning, an electric vehicle. It appears the truck was rented through the Turo app — a carsharing company, according to Rodrigo Diaz, the owner of the truck.
Diaz told ABC News he rented the truck to an individual through the app and is currently talking to the FBI. He declined further comment.
Diaz’s wife, Dora Diaz, told ABC News that she and her husband are devastated by the incident.
“My husband rents cars through the Turo app. I can’t tell you anything else. I’m here with my kids, and this is devastating,” Dora Diaz said.
(FLORIDA KEYS, Fla.) — Hurricane Rafael, now a powerful Category 2 hurricane, could strengthen into a major Category 3 hurricane later in the day before making landfall in Cuba on Wednesday night.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for the Florida Keys, where heavy rain, gusty winds and even tornadoes are possible on Wednesday and into Thursday morning.
By the weekend, Rafael will weaken as it stalls in the Gulf of Mexico.
Rafael isn’t posing a major threat to the U.S. Gulf Coast, but some of the tropical moisture could move toward the coast and add to the rain from an approaching cold front.
Most models predict Rafael sitting in the Gulf into next week and possibly moving southwest toward Mexico.
(WASHINGTON) — Special Counsel Jack Smith issued his first response Tuesday to an effort by Donald Trump’s co-defendants to have the judge who tossed his classified documents case issue an emergency order blocking Smith’s final report on the investigation.
Lawyers for Trump’s former co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, asked Judge Aileen Cannon — who dismissed the case in July after deeming Smith’s appointment unconstitutional — to issue an order barring Attorney General Merrick Garland from publicly releasing the report by Jan. 10.
In a brief filing, assistant special counsel James Pearce confirmed the office is “working to finalize” a report and Attorney General Garland — who has the final say over what material from the report is made public — has still not determined what to release from the volume that relates to Smith’s classified documents investigation.
The office assured Judge Cannon in their filing that Smith would not release that specific volume of the report anytime before 10 a.m. Friday and that they would submit a fuller response to Nauta and DeOliveira’s emergency motion no later than 7 p.m. Tuesday evening.
The legal maneuver by Trump’s now-former co-defendants came the same day Trump’s personal lawyers sent a letter to Garland demanding he remove Smith from his post and defer the decision about the report’s release to Trump’s incoming attorney general, Pam Bondi.
“No report should be prepared or released, and Smith should be removed, including for even suggesting that course of action given his obvious political motivations and desire to lawlessly undermine the transition,” wrote Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, Trump’s defense attorneys and his picks for top posts within the Department of Justice.
Smith has been winding down his cases against the president-elect, moving to dismiss Trump’s election interference case and dropping their appeal of his classified documents case against Trump, and is expected to submit a final report about his investigations to Garland before stepping down.
