Two Chinese citizens are facing charges after allegedly smuggling a pathogen into the United States.
Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, face charges of conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements, and visa fraud, the Justice Department announced. The Chinese nationals smuggled a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which may be used for agroterrorism.
The function causes “head blight,” a disease in wheat, barley, maize, and rice. It also causes vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive issues.
The DOJ explained that Jian received Chinese funding for her work on the pathogen. “It is further alleged that Jian’s boyfriend, Liu, works at a Chinese university where he conducts research on the same pathogen and that he first lied but then admitted to smuggling Fusarium graminearum into America—through the Detroit Metropolitan Airport—so that he could conduct research on it at the laboratory at the University of Michigan where his girlfriend, Jian, worked,” said the news release.
U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. said in a statement that the alleged actions are “of the gravest national security concerns.”
“These two aliens have been charged with smuggling a fungus that has been described as a ‘potential agroterrorism weapon’ into the heartland of America, where they apparently intended to use a University of Michigan laboratory to further their scheme,” Gorgon said.
Customs and Border Protection’s Director of Field Operations, Marty Raybon, said the charges are “indicative of CBP’s critical role in protecting the American people from biological threats that could devastate our agricultural economy and cause harm to humans; especially when it involves a researcher from a major university attempting to clandestinely bring potentially harmful biological materials into the United States.”
