Illegal immigrant arrested for allegedly shipping weapons to North Korea from California: DOJ

An illegal immigrant from China was arrested for allegedly shipping "firearms, ammunition and other military items" to North Korea from California, according to a Justice Department indictment released on Tuesday.

Shenghua Wen, 41, of Ontario, California, was arrested on Tuesday after hiding the weapons "inside shipping containers bound from Long Beach," the agency said.

Wen, who was a Chinese national illegally residing in the United States, was expected to appear in court in in the Central District of California on Tuesday.

"Wen obtained firearms, ammunition, and export-controlled technology with the intention of shipping them to North Korea — a violation of federal law and United States sanctions against that nation," the agency said in a news release.

"Wen and his co-conspirators allegedly exported shipments of firearms and ammunition to North Korea by concealing the items inside shipping containers that were shipped from Long Beach through Hong Kong to North Korea," the agency added.