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ABC News


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.

In this April 12, 2018, file photo, the Department of Justice seal is pictured in Washington, D.C.
Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images, FILE

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.

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

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.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.