A Chinese man studying at a Scottish university has been arrested after taking photographs of planes at a US air base.
Tianrui Liang, who is studying aeronautical engineering at the University of Glasgow, has been charged with taking unauthorised images at Offutt Air Force Base, which is home to the US Strategic Command.
The 21-year-old was arrested at JFK Airport in New York on April 7, after being spotted photographing a plane famed for its ability to withstand a nuclear attack.
An eyewitness at the Nebraska base had alerted authorities to a man in a vehicle holding a camera with a telescopic lens while a military plane was on the runway.
Documents filed by the FBI claim that on March 31, the student documented multiple aircrafts at Offutt, including a Boeing E-4B which is nicknamed the ‘doomsday plane’.
The aircraft can act as a mobile command post for senior American military and government officials during national emergencies.
Liang appeared before a court in New York on April 8 and was initially released on bail, but was taken back into custody the following day when the government warned he was a ‘considerable flight risk’.
Noah Heflin, a special agent with the FBI, wrote that Liang told counterintelligence teams he knew his actions were illegal, but that the photos were ‘only for his own personal collection’.
The student is a keen plane spotter and has previously travelled around the UK to photograph military and commercial aircraft.
Mr Heflin’s affidavit alleges that Liang used a plane spotting website to learn where planes are parked, serviced and loaded at numerous airfields and airports, including the Offutt base.
According to legal documents, Liang flew out to Canada on March 26 to meet a friend who is studying at Columbia University in New York.
The pair drove across the border into America two days later, travelling from Seattle, Washington, to Billings, Montana.
When the friend departed for New York on March 29, Liang drove to Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota in a bid to photograph the B1-B aircraft, a strategic bomber.
He discovered that the plane had been moved and therefore could not be photographed, then headed on to Offutt Air Force Base.
Liang was arrested several days later while travelling back to Scotland and charged with violating a US law that bans photographing, sketching or mapping ‘vital’ military bases and equipment without permission.
The student is expected to appear in court again later this month. However, the full details of his case remain undisclosed due to the FBI’s ‘concerns regarding the ongoing investigation into a named co-conspirator’.
Liang’s arrest comes amid longstanding warnings that British universities have become ‘magnets’ for espionage, according to the head of MI5 and University of Glasgow alumnus Ken McCallum.
Programs funded by the Chinese Communist party on British campuses have been accused of spying on, and censoring UK students in recent years.
Experts also warn that universities running cutting-edge research projects with international students risk exposing sensitive military and technological material to foreign agents.
In November, Nigel Inkster of the International Institute for Strategic Studies told the BBC there are ‘a lot of cases of joint research which have clear military-defence applications, where I would have thought it would occur to those engaged to ask questions about the desirability of continuing with such activities’.
Liang’s lawyer, Jeffrey Thomas, from the Federal Public Defender’s Omaha office, did not respond to enquiries.
The US Attorney’s Office in Nebraska said it was unable to comment at this time.
A University of Glasgow spokesperson said: ‘We do not comment on ongoing police matters or individual students.’
