A US Border Patrol agent inspects a vehicle used in an alleged smuggling operation. March, 2023. © Antranik Tavitian/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK
(Detroit, MI) – Less than a week after a couple from China was accused in a similar scheme, another Chinese lab worker is under arrest in Michigan — for trying to smuggle in biological materials. Federal prosecutors say Chengxuan Han, a researcher, was caught smuggling goods and allegedly making false statements.
Han was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport — allegedly she had mailed packages containing biological material to a lab. The material is connected to roundworms. Prosecutors say she also lied and said she had mailed plastic cups — but it was actually petri dishes. The packages were sent to two individuals at the University of Michigan.
The couple from China arrested last week worked at a University of Michigan lab. Court documents say that when FBI agents and members of Homeland Security questioned Han, she eventually admitted to sending the biological materials. It’s alleged she further disclosed that the materials were connected to her research as a Ph.D. student from the College of Life Science and Technology in the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in Wuhan. Of course, Wuhan is the location of a lab where it’s purported COVID-19 leaked from.
Court documents say that Han was previously denied a visa twice in March after failing to answer basic questions concerning her research. The University of Michigan says she was invited to participate at the lab as a visiting scholar.
Cheyvoryea Gibson is Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office, and he released a statement on Monday: “The alleged smuggling of biological materials by Chengxuan Han is a direct threat to public safety and national security, and it severely compromises the integrity of our nation’s research institutions. I applaud the relentless efforts of the FBI Detroit Counterintelligence Task Force, working in close coordination with US Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations and ICE Homeland Security Investigations Detroit. The FBI in Michigan will aggressively pursue anyone who seeks to harm our country and will deploy every available resource to defend the United States and protect our communities.”
