Two Chinese nationals have been charged with conspiracy, fraud, and smuggling a deadly bio pathogen into the United States.
United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. announced that 33-year-old Yunqing Jian and 34-year-old Zunyong Liu, both citizens of the People’s Republic of China, were arrested on various conspiracy charges, which included smuggling “a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon.” The Justice Department said in a press release:
The FBI arrested Jian in connection with allegations related to Jian’s and Liu’s smuggling into America a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature classifies 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. Fusarium graminearum’s toxins cause vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in humans and livestock.
Jian allegedly received Chinese government funding to work on the pathogen in China. Her electronics also allegedly contained information detailing her membership 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,” noted the Justice Department.
United States Attorney Gorgon called the charges a matter of grave national security concern, noting that the alleged culprits planned to use the University of Michigan as a laboratory with the use of student visas.
“The alleged actions of these Chinese nationals—including a loyal member of the Chinese Communist Party—are of the gravest national security concerns,” said Gorgon. “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.”
Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office, further stated that the suspects “exploited their access to laboratory facilities at a local university to engage in the smuggling of biological pathogens.”
As – News reported, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last week that the U.S. State Department will be revoking visas of Chinese students with connections to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“The U.S. will begin revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” Rubio said in an announcement on X.
