Federal law enforcement officials announced on Tuesday that two Chinese nationals were being charged for attempting to smuggle a biological pathogen classified as a “potential agroterrorism weapon” into the United States while working at the University of Michigan.
In a Tuesday press release, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said the Chinese nationals, identified as 33-year-old Yunqing Jian and 34-year-old Zunyong Liu, were charged for smuggling goods into the United States, conspiracy, visa fraud, and making false statements.
According to the press release, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Jian over allegations that the two Chinese nationals had smuggled a fungus called Fusarium graminearum into the United States. Officials noted that the biological pathogen is classified as a “potential agroterrorism weapon.”
“This noxious fungus 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 U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan stated. “Fusarium graminearum’s toxins cause vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in humans and livestock.”
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In a post on X, formerly Twitter, FBI Director Kash Patel described the case as a “sobering reminder that the CCP is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply, which would have grave consequences… putting American lives and our economy at serious risk.”
Tuesday’s press release claimed that Jian’s work on the biological pathogen in China was funded by the Chinese government and that the Chinese national’s electronics provided evidence of her “membership in and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party. Officials also claimed that Liu, who researches the same pathogen at a Chinese university, lied and then admitted that he smuggled Fusarium graminearum into the country through the Detroit Metropolitan Airport to conduct additional research on the pathogen at the University of Michigan.
“The alleged actions of these Chinese nationals—including a loyal member of the Chinese Communist Party—are of the gravest national security concerns,” U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. said. “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.”
