Restricted Thermal Imaging Technology to China

On July 27, 2009, Zhi Yong Guo, a resident of Beijing, was sentenced in the Central District of California to 60 months in prison, while Tah Wei Chao, also a resident of Beijing, was sentenced to 20 months in prison. Both were sentenced in connection with a plot to procure and illegally export thermal-imaging cameras to the People’s Republic of China without obtaining the required export licenses. Guo and Chao were indicted on federal charges on July 17, 2008. Chao pleaded guilty to three federal counts in July 2008. On February 23, 2009, following a one-week trial, Guo was convicted of two federal counts. The case related to ten cameras concealed in luggage destined for China in April 2008. The export of these thermal-imaging cameras to China are controlled by the Department of Commerce for national security and regional stability reasons because of their use in a wide variety of civilian and military applications. In March 2008, Chao ordered 10 thermal-imaging cameras from FLIR Systems, Inc. for $53,000. Representatives from FLIR Systems repeatedly warned Chao that the cameras could not be exported without a license. Both Chao and Guo were arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in April 2008 after authorities recovered the ten cameras that had been hidden in their suitcases. In addition to the 10 cameras intercepted by federal authorities, Chao admitted that, acting at the behest of Guo, he shipped three cameras to China in October 2007. The evidence at trial showed that Guo, an engineer and a managing director of a technology development company in Beijing, directed Chao to obtain the cameras for Guo’s clients, the Chinese Special Police and the Special Armed Police. This case was the product of an investigation by the Export and Anti-proliferation Global Law Enforcement (EAGLE) Task Force in the Central District of California, including BIS, ICE, FBI, CBP, DSS, and TSA.