High-Tech Sting

Taking the low road to China

When the four men and one woman strolled out of an office building in Shrewsbury, N.J., near New York City, they thought they had just wrapped up a $1.25 million business deal. Instead, they had stumbled into a trap. Twenty U.S. customs agents surrounded and handcuffed the five. The charge: conspiring to smuggle classified, high-technology military equipment to China.

The sting was part of Operation Exodus, an effort led by the Customs Service to stem the illicit export of defense-related technology. In this case, an undercover agent had posed as a defense-equipment broker and rented a New Jersey office as a front. The defendants, meeting with the agent in his office and unaware that hidden cameras were taping the session, offered to buy 100 transverse-wave-tube amplifiers, which are used in missile guidance systems, for $12,500 each. In addition, the suspects gave the agent a $1 billion shopping list of computers and other advanced electronic equipment.

The defendants include three U.S. citizens of Chinese descent: Kuang-shin Lin, 38, of Lincroft, N.J.; Kwong Allen Yeung, 34, of Cortland, N.Y.; and David Tsai, 30, of New York City. Also charged are two Hong Kong residents: Da-chuan Zheng, 41, and his sister-in-law Jing-li Zhang, 33.

Three months ago, the Customs Service got a tip from a defense industry firm in Los Angeles that Lin, a technical supervisor for AT&T Information Systems in New Jersey, had been asking about the availability of transverse-wave-tube amplifiers. Following that lead, an undercover customs agent telephoned Lin and set the sting in motion. The person who agreed to provide the money was Zheng, who is believed to be a citizen of China.

The Customs Service has not publicly accused Zheng of being a Chinese government agent, but investigators privately say strong evidence points to that conclusion.

Since Operation Exodus began in 1981, the Customs Service has seized 2,851 illegal shipments of defense-related equipment worth $177 million. The Soviet Union has been the leading destination, but U.S. officials say smuggling to China is on the rise. Ironically, the Reagan Ad ministration loosened restrictions in November to let China buy somewhat more powerful American computers than the country was previously allowed to receive.

The arrest of Zheng and his companions may indicate that Peking is far from satisfied with the products it can get through legal channels.