25-year-old Weijian Chen and 46-year-old Wenqiang Lin each entered our country illegally at the southern border in 2023. Both have been arrested, and both have been charged with money laundering and are in jail in east Texas.
Their story is an interesting one, and I'll give you the details below.
Lin — and likely Chen as well — traveled from Hong Kong, to Turkey, and then to Mexico, where they crossed our border illegally with a group of Chinese nationals in 2023.
The duo boarded a plane from Los Angeles to Atlanta on July 30 of this year, and were stopped in Georgia on July 31 for a traffic violation. Becoming suspicious of the Chinese nationals, the officer used a narcotics dog to search the vehicle, though to no avail.
Due to his overwhelming suspicion, the officer called on the rental car company the duo had rented from and asked them to track their vehicle. Interestingly enough, the duo had gone and switched out their vehicle for a different model after they'd been searched by police. Still, Corporal Thomas of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office Criminal Interdiction Unit was able to track them.
The officer determined that the duo had traveled north to Marietta, an area in Georgia known for its cartel activity.
From there, the duo reportedly traveled to Jacksonville, Florida where they stayed for about two hours before they went on I-10 westbound traveling north on I-49 to I-20.
They quickly made their way into Texas when they were once again stopped by police. And this is where it gets interesting.
[Sgt. Charlie] Hughes proceeded to conduct a traffic stop on the Chevy. The driver was identified as 25-year-old Chen, Weijian. Due to a language barrier, Hughes asked Chen to go to his patrol vehicle and speak to him using a translator app.
During the interview, Hughes reportedly 'observed multiple factors that lead [him] to believe there was criminal activity afoot.' Chen reportedly told Hughes they had flown from Los Angeles, California to Atlanta, Georgia to "play" but had only remained in Atlanta for one day.
Chen claimed he was heading to Dallas and went to Florida to 'play.'
The Chinese nationals then submitted to a K-9 search, which was mostly unsuccessful, until,
A bag was located behind the driver's seat on the floorboard where officials found multiple pieces of gold bullion bars estimated to value between $200,000 and $250,000
It is important to note, as Sgt. Hughes did, that these gold bars would not have made it through airport security without the filing of a United States Currency Transaction Report. So do what you want with that information and the fact that these two men made a stop in a cartel hub out in Georgia after they landed there.
Of course, Chen and Lin claim they don't know whose bag of gold this was, and they're both being held on $100,000 bond at the Van Zandt County Jail.
Just another story of criminals crossing our southern border and assuming they can pretty much do whatever they want up here, legal or illegal.
Shoutout to user @yantelope for bringing this story to our attention.
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