National Security Team Joins Investigation of Western Engineering Students Charged With Weapons Manufacturing, Explosives Possession

RCMP's INSET Unit Probes Case Involving Suspects Who Studied Rocketry and Nuclear Materials.

OTTAWA/LONDON, ONT. — The foot chase ended in bone-chilling cold. At 1:40 a.m. on Saturday, January 24, Western University campus police pursued a trespasser across the engineering quad, where wind chill had plunged to -32°C—likely the coldest night London, Ontario had seen in nearly two years. When London Police arrived moments later to assist with the arrest, officers found a loaded handgun at the scene.

What began as a trespassing investigation in the frozen darkness outside the Spencer Engineering Building has since evolved into a case drawing the attention of Canada’s national security apparatus.

The RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET), which handles cases involving terrorism, espionage, and foreign interference, confirmed its involvement Tuesday—a significant development in an investigation that has already spanned multiple provinces, triggered explosive disposal responses, and resulted in charges against four Mandarin-speaking individuals, some of whom studied rocketry and nuclear materials at the university.

Police traced the trespasser and a second suspect to 212 Chesham Avenue—a student house less than two kilometers from campus—where investigators discovered what London Police described as “numerous precursor substances and finished high explosives” along with multiple firearms and evidence of weapons manufacturing.

The case has stunned neighbors in the quiet residential area near campus, yet the story has garnered little attention in Canadian media.

Through confirmed court reporting and deep research into open-source records, The Bureau has established the backgrounds of the four suspects—all of whom requested Mandarin interpretation services in court proceedings—and identified factors that Canadian police and national security investigators may be examining.

With police declining to comment on the nature of the case beyond basic facts, and only brief responses to The Bureau’s questions from CSIS, the national intelligence agency, and confirmation of INSET’s involvement, the suspects’ backgrounds and the context of their research provide some of the only available clues to how seriously Canadian agencies are taking this case.

All four suspects in this case are presumed innocent as the court case proceeds, with hearings scheduled for Thursday.

Jerry Tong: The Financial Advisor with the Nortel Connection

The oldest suspect facing the most extensive charges is 27-year-old Jerry Tong, the only one who doesn’t live in London. Court documents list his address as Gatineau, Quebec, and police have executed search warrants at properties in both Gatineau and a suburb east of Ottawa—geographic factors that may be significant given the National Capital Region’s concentration of government facilities, research institutions, and the remnants of Canada’s once-dominant technology sector.