Five Chinese nationals were indicted on federal charges on Wednesday for conspiracy, lying to federal investigators, and destroying records pertaining to their strange midnight visit to a Michigan Army National Guard base in August 2023.
The defendants, who were University of Michigan students at the time, were caught with cameras near a major National Guard live-fire training exercise at Camp Grayling. The exercise, dubbed “Northern Strike,” involved military vehicles and classified communications equipment. Visiting personnel from Taiwan were involved in the drills.
The indictment filed on Wednesday did not pertain to the suspicious activities of the students near the military base, but rather to the false statements they gave investigators. When they were approached by a National Guard officer after bypassing abundant caution tape and “no trespassing” signs to enter the Northern Strike area, the five Chinese nationals falsely claimed to be members of the media, then fled the area.
Local law enforcement soon discovered the five had booked themselves into a motel in Grayling, seemingly for the purpose of observing the military exercise.