{"id":117235,"date":"2026-01-09T20:32:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T20:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/117235\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T20:32:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T20:32:25","slug":"7-arrested-accused-in-houston-gun-trafficking-ring-doj-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/117235\/","title":{"rendered":"7 arrested, accused in Houston gun trafficking ring, DOJ says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">HOUSTON &#8211; Seven people are accused in an operation that trafficked guns from Houston to North Korea, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-sdtx\/pr\/houston-straw-purchasing-ring-charged-smuggling-firearms-north-korea\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">according to the Department of Justice (DOJ)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>   Houston crime: Seven charged in alleged gun smuggling ring <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KRIV\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">What we know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Officials say 39-year-old Shenghua Wen was the ringleader and is facing nearly 10 total charges for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Six other people are also facing charges:<\/p>\n<p> Jin Yang, 60, CaliforniaSifu Zhao, 24, HoustonYiyang Wu, 40, HoustonMington Tan, 27, HoustonMax Mingze Li, 36, HoustonRichard Arredondo, 51, Mexicali, Mexico <\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The DOJ claims Wen and his girlfriend, Yang, bought a gun store, then recruited Zhao and Tan as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasdefensefirm.com\/blog\/what-is-a-straw-purchase\/#:~:text=A%20straw%20purchase%20happens%20when,buying%20or%20possessing%20a%20gun.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">straw purchasers<\/a>, or people who buy on behalf of a third party.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Zhao, Tan, Mingze Li and Arredondo allegedly bought guns on Wen&#8217;s behalf, then sent some of the guns to another Houston firearms dealer who sold them to members of the smuggling ring.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Officials say Wu also recruited a straw purchaser into the ring and brought some guns to another Houston dealer for resale.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The group allegedly obtained about 170 guns and &#8220;several thousand rounds of ammunition.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KRIV\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">What we don&#8217;t know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The DOJ doesn&#8217;t identify any other suspects from the alleged trafficking ring.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KRIV\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">What&#8217;s next:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Shenghua Wen is said to be charged with conspiracy, conspiracy to commit firearms trafficking, and seven counts of aiding and abetting false statements to a federal firearm licensee. He faces between five and 20 years in prison, if he&#8217;s convicted.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Yang is also charged with conspiracy and conspiracy to commit firearms trafficking, each charge carrying a sentence of 5\u201315 years.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The other five are said to be charged with one count of conspiracy and varying counts of aiding and abetting false statements to a federal firearm licensee. Each count has a maximum sentence of five years.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">All of these charges are also said to have a fine of up to $250,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: U.S. Department of Justice &#8211; Southern District of Texas<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox26houston.com\/tag\/crime-publicsafety\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Crime and Public Safety<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox26houston.com\/tag\/us\/tx\/houston\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Houston<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON &#8211; Seven people are accused in an operation that trafficked guns from Houston to North Korea, according&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1046,56,58,57,223,216,393],"class_list":{"0":"post-117235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-crime-publicsafety","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-headlines","11":"tag-houston-news","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-tx","14":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}