Two Chinese nationals were arrested in East Texas after police found them with $250,000 worth in gold bars during a traffic stop Thursday.
Weijian Chen, 25, and Wenqiang Lin, 46, were arrested for money laundering between $150,000 and $300,000, according to court records.
“A Wills Point detective pulled over the vehicle that Chen and Lin were riding in after he noticed the car was following another vehicle too closely. The detective asked Chen, who was the driver, to speak with him at the patrol vehicle using a translation app. The officer said he believed there was criminal activity ‘afoot,’” KYTX-TV reported.
Adding to the detective’s suspicions, Chen told him they were flying from Los Angeles to Atlanta for a day to “play.”
And when asked about three bags in their rental vehicle, Chen denied the detective’s request to search them.
At that point, the detective deployed a K-9 unit which found $250,000 of gold bars in one of the bags.
The detective’s K-9 conducted a sniff search of the vehicle. The detective found a boarding pass for a flight from Los Angeles on July 30 that landed in Atlanta on July 31. The search then led to the detective finding a bag behind the driver’s seat with multiple pieces of gold bars inside. The value of that gold totals about $250,000, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit said both Lin and Chen claimed they did not know who the bag or the gold belonged to. Both men were then placed under arrest.
It turned out the two Chinese nationals entered the U.S. illegally in late 2023 from Mexico after taking an elaborately long journey from China, and were then allegedly asked to transport the gold bars to Dallas.
After contacting an agent with Homeland Security, the Wills Point detective learned Lin entered the United States illegally and was encountered by U.S. Border Patrol on Sept. 15, 2023, in California. He was given a notice to appear in court and released without having to post bail. Chen came into the United States on Dec. 17, 2023, in California and also given a notice to appear in court and released without having to post bail as well, the document read.
In an interview with police at the Van Zandt County Jail, Chen said he received the gold bars by someone asking him to take the gold to Dallas. He didn’t give any more information. Lin said he left China, went to Hong Kong, then flew to Turkey and flew to Mexico from there. Lin said he then traveled through Mexico with others from China to attempt entry into the U.S., the affidavit stated.
Van Zandt County District Attorney Tonda Curry said the two men’s travel history suggested they were involved in cartel activity.
“I’m sure there are good people who are leaving horrible circumstances, but among those good are people who help organizations that prey on U.S. citizens,” Curry said, adding she doesn’t know if the two men came into the U.S. as refugees.
“They were arrested for money laundering. No formal charges have been filed yet,” Curry said.
As we’ve reported, hordes of military-age Chinese males have been crossing the U.S. southern border with the help of shady NGOs and the Border Patrol under Joe Biden.
INSIDE THE DANGERS OF CHINESE MIGRANTS ENTERING INTO AMERICA:
Chinese migrants are coming into America in record numbers and nobody knows where they go after they cross the border. I spoke with a lady whose property is the border line and she says the Chinese migrants tell her… pic.twitter.com/0ZDX72254m— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) August 1, 2024
In fact, illegal crossing by Chinese nationals have skyrocketed by 14,000% since 2021, with over 30,000 Chinese nationals illegally entering through the San Diego sector alone since October 2023.
Watch DA Curry’s news conference on the arrests: