Federal authorities in Michigan have charged a third Chinese national with smuggling biological materials capable of causing diseases in humans, the Justice Department and FBI said.
FBI Director Kash Patel said agents arrested Han Chengxuan, a student from a biological institute in Wuhan, China, for sending four packages to the United States containing biological material linked to roundworms to people at a University of Michigan laboratory.
The researcher is the third Chinese national in the last week accused of charges related to smuggling potentially dangerous biological material.
Last week, Jian Yunqing, 33, and Liu Zunyong, 34, both from China, were also charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to smuggle a fungus into the United States that authorities say had the potential to be used as “an agroterrorism weapon” against U.S. agricultural crops.
Ms. Jian was arrested but Mr. Liu is said to be in China.
Ms. Han, the third suspect, was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Sunday and allegedly made false statements to federal officials regarding the four packages.
“This case is part of a broader effort from the FBI and our federal partners to heavily crack down on similar pathogen smuggling operations, as the [Chinese Communist Party] works relentlessly to undermine America’s research institutions,” Mr. Patel said on X.
A court document in the case states that Ms. Han sent several packages to a Michigan university laboratory researcher containing biological samples related to C. elegans, also known as the roundworm.
The samples contained a growth medium used in cultivating a type of roundworm called a nematode.
The Chinese researchers were conducting experiments in modifying genes in roundworms, the document said.
Roundworms are parasites transmitted to humans through soil.
The complaint stated that Ms. Han is working on a doctorate from the College of Life Science and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan.
According to the complaint, she sent the four packages with a concealed biological material in 2024 and 2025.
The packages were addressed to a laboratory at the University of Michigan, where the two other suspects had worked.
Customs and Border Protection agents questioned Ms. Han at the airport and she denied sending the four packages. Agents also discovered that she had deleted data from her electronic device three days before arriving in the United States.
Later under questioning, Ms. Han “admitted to sending the packages, admitted that the packages contained biological material related to roundworms, and admitted to making false statements to the CBP officers during her inspection,” the Justice Department said in announcing the arrest Monday.
“The alleged smuggling of biological materials by this alien from a science and technology university in Wuhan, China—to be used at a University of Michigan laboratory—is part of an alarming pattern that threatens our security,” said Jerome F. Gorgon Jr., the U.S. Attorney in Detroit.
“The American taxpayer should not be underwriting a PRC-based smuggling operation at one of our crucial public institutions.”
“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,” said FBI Special Agent Cheyvoryea Gibson, director of the Detroit field office.
The criminal complaint in the original case against Ms. Jian and Mr. Liu, who were charged with smuggling samples of a crop fungus called Fusarium graminearum, suggested that one of the suspects was engaged in biological weapons work.
A document found on Mr. Liu’s cellphone was titled “2018 Plant-Pathogen Warfare under Changing Climate Conditions.”
“Open-source research revealed that this article references Fusarium graminearum as an example of a destructive disease and pathogen for crops,” the complaint states.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.