Two Chinese nationals have been charged with allegedly smuggling into the U.S. a fungus called "Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon," the Justice Department said Tuesday.
This photo released by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan shows what authorities say are biological pathogens discovered in luggage at the airport in Detroit.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, citizens of the People’s Republic of China, were allegedly receiving Chinese government funding for their research, some of which at the University of Michigan, officials said.
"The complaint also alleges that Jian’s electronics contain information describing her membership in and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party. 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," according to a DOJ press release.
This photo released by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan shows what authorities say are biological pathogens discovered in luggage at the airport in Detroit.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement that the Justice Department "“has no higher mission than keeping the American people safe and protecting our nation from hostile foreign actors who would do us harm."
"Thanks to the hard work of our excellent DOJ attorneys, this defendant — who clandestinely attempted to bring a destructive substance into the United States — will face years behind bars," the attorney general said.
The FBI says it causes “head blight,” a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice, and is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year.
“The alleged actions of these Chinese nationals -- including a loyal member of the Chinese Communist Party -- 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 in the heartland of America, where they apparently intended to use a University of Michigan laboratory to further their scheme,” U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgan said.
In this Nov. 8, 2020, file photo, a sign is shown at the University of Michigan, North Campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
STOCK IMAGE/Getty Images
“Today’s criminal charges levied upon Yunqing Jian and Zunyong Liu 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," U.S. Custom and Border Protection, Director of Field Operations Marty C. Raybon said.
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Jian will be appearing Tuesday afternoon in federal court in Detroit for her initial appearance on the complaint, the DOJ said.
The affidavit alleges that Jian and Liu were dating, and also researching the biological pathogen -- and when questioned about smuggling the pathogen into the United States, lied to authorities at the Detroit airport.
This photo released by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan shows what authorities say are biological pathogens discovered in luggage at the airport in Detroit.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
"On July 27, 2024 Liu entered the United States and told authorities he was visiting his girlfriend and then returning to China to start his own laboratory in China. He allegedly said that he had no work materials, but upon a secondary screening of his luggage, authorities found tissues concealed a note in Chinese, a round piece of filter paper with a series of circles drawn on it, and four clear plastic baggies with small clumps of reddish plant material inside," the affidavit said.
He told authorities he didn't know how the materials ended up in his bag and suggested someone placed them there without his knowledge, officials said, but after further questioning he admitted to placing them in the bag.
He wasn't arrested at that time, court records suggest.
"LIU stated that he intentionally hid the samples in his backpack because he knew there were restrictions on the importation of the materials," according to the complaint. "LIU confirmed that he had intentionally put the samples in a wad of tissues so CBP Officers would be less likely to find and confiscate them, and he could continue his research in the United States."