美国执法机构近期向五名涉嫌欺骗调查和企图掩盖行迹的中国籍学生提起诉讼。这一事件发生在去年夏季，在密歇根州一个遥远军事基地附近，数千人聚在一起进行演练。这五人均为当时就读于密歇根大学的学生，并非因在卡姆格雷灵营地（Camp Grayling）的事件接受调查而受到指控。
相反，他们被控误导调查人员关于其旅行的情况以及共谋清除手机内的照片证据，根据联邦法院提交的一份刑事起诉书指出。美国联邦调查局（FBI）表示，在五人案发前一周，他们曾预订了距离卡姆格雷灵营地200英里远的一间酒店房间。
在事件发生四个月后，其中一名学生在途经底特律机场时被边检人员询问，并计划前往韩国和中国。他在接受调查时声称与他人一同旅行至密歇根北部欣赏“流星雨”。美国联邦调查局（FBI）指出，在对他的外部硬盘进行检查后发现，这些照片的拍摄日期恰为他与国民警卫队军士长遭遇那天。
另外四名男子在去年3月抵达芝加哥并从冰岛航班下机后接受访谈。他们承认曾在2023年8月访问了密歇根北部地区，声称是为了观赏流星雨活动，并提到了那名军人，但只称他为“战士”、“露营者”或“好人”。
调查人员发现，这五人在去年12月通过微信平台讨论清除相机与手机中的照片。美国联邦调查局（FBI）确认这些学生已于春季毕业于密歇根大学，并且他们参与了一个由该大学和上海交通大学合作的联合项目。
此前，在2020年有两名中国公民，当时是密歇根大学硕士生身份，因非法拍摄佛罗里达州基韦斯特海军航空站（naval air station）而被判刑。
新闻来源：www.cnn.com
原文地址：5 Chinese nationals charged with covering up midnight visit to Michigan military site
新闻日期：2024-10-02
原文摘要：
US authorities charged five Chinese nationals with lying and trying to cover their tracks, more than a year after they were confronted in the dark near a remote Michigan military site where thousands of people had gathered for summer drills. The five, who were University of Michigan students at the time, were not charged for what happened at Camp Grayling in August 2023. Rather they are accused of misleading investigators about the trip and conspiring to clear their phones of photos, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court. The FBI noted in the Tuesday court filing that there have been instances of college students from China taking photos of vital defense sites in the United States. There was nothing in the file revealing the whereabouts of the five men. “The defendants are not in custody. Should they come into contact with U.S. authorities, they will be arrested and face these charges,” Gina Balaya, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit, said Wednesday. In summer 2023, the five were confronted after midnight near a lake by a sergeant major with the Utah National Guard. One said, “We are media,” before they collected their belongings and agreed to leave the area, the FBI said. The FBI learned that the men had booked a room at a nearby motel a week before they were spotted outside Camp Grayling, 200 miles north of Detroit. Four months later, one of the men was interviewed by border officers at the Detroit airport before traveling to South Korea and China. He told investigators that he and others had taken a trip to northern Michigan “to see shooting stars,” the FBI said. A check of his external hard drive revealed two images of military vehicles taken on the same night of the encounter with the National Guard officer, the FBI said. The other four men were interviewed last March after arriving in Chicago on a flight from Iceland. They acknowledged being in northern Michigan in August 2023, but they said it was to see a meteor shower, the FBI said. They mentioned the National Guard officer but referred to him only as “the soldier,” a camper or “nice guy,” according to the criminal complaint. The men last December communicated on WeChat about clearing photos from their cameras and phones, investigators said. The FBI said all five men graduated last spring from the University of Michigan. They were part of a joint program between the university and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China. In 2020, two Chinese nationals who were pursuing master’s degrees at the University of Michigan were sentenced to prison for illegally photographing sites at a naval air station in Key West, Florida.
