Two Chinese scientists arrested for smuggling ‘potential agroterrorism’ fungus into US | EUROtoday

A Chinese scientist entered the U.S. final 12 months with a poisonous fungus stashed in his backpack, federal authorities mentioned Tuesday as they filed costs towards him and a girlfriend who labored in a lab on the University of Michigan.

The pathogen is called Fusarium graminearum, which might assault wheat, barley, maize and rice and sicken livestock and folks, the FBI mentioned in a court docket submitting in Detroit.

The FBI mentioned a scientific journal describes it as a “potential agroterrorism weapon.”

Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, had been charged with conspiracy, smuggling, making false statements and visa fraud.

“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 Gorgon Jr. said.

Jian appeared in court and was returned to jail to await a bond hearing Thursday. A message seeking comment from her attorney was not immediately returned.

In July 2024, Liu was turned away at the Detroit airport and sent back to China after changing his story during an interrogation about red plant material discovered in his backpack, the FBI said.

He initially claimed ignorance about the samples but later said he was planning to use the material for research at a University of Michigan lab where Jian worked and where Liu previously worked, the FBI said.

The FBI said authorities found a scientific article on Liu’s phone that was titled, “Plant-Pathogen Warfare under Changing Climate Conditions.”

A week before arriving in the U.S., according to investigators, Liu exchanged messages with Jian, who said, “It’s a pity that I still have to work for you.”

The FBI mentioned Liu replied: “Once this is done, everything else will be easy.”

Months later, in February, FBI brokers visited Jian on the campus lab. She mentioned, “100% no,” when requested if she had been aiding Liu with the pathogen on the lab. The FBI mentioned it discovered a signed assertion on her telephone expressing her assist for the Communist Party of China.

Messages between the 2 in 2024 recommend that Jian was already tending to Fusarium graminearum on the campus lab earlier than Liu was caught on the Detroit airport, the FBI mentioned. The college doesn’t have federal permits to deal with it.