Washington DC [US], November 8 (HBTV): The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged three Chinese researchers affiliated with the University of Michigan in connection with smuggling biological materials from China to the United States, marking a major development in the growing concerns about China’s misuse of academic exchange programmes, according to The Epoch Times.
As per the criminal complaint filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Bai Xu and Zhang Fengfan have been charged with conspiring to smuggle biological materials, while Zhang Zhiyong faces charges of lying to federal agents. The trio was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on October 16, moments before boarding a flight to China.
Investigations have linked the three researchers to Han Chengxuan, a researcher from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in China. Han was detained in June after arriving in the US on a J-1 visa. Authorities discovered that she had shipped petri dishes containing genetically modified C. elegans worms to Michigan while falsely labelling the packages. She later pleaded no contest to smuggling and lying to customs officials and was deported in September after serving her sentence.
Prosecutors revealed that several intercepted shipments linked to Han were addressed to Bai and Zhang Fengfan and were often mislabelled as ‘plastic plates’. The packages contained genetically modified nematodes and DNA molecules, materials that could pose biosecurity risks.
Following Han’s deportation, the University of Michigan launched an internal investigation, but all three accused researchers refused to cooperate and were subsequently dismissed. Their J-1 visas were also revoked, making them subject to deportation, according to The Epoch Times.
During questioning, the suspects identified Han as a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Prosecutors further linked Han’s academic mentor, Liu Jianfen, a senior scientist at HUST, to a laboratory operated under China’s Ministry of Education.
This revelation adds to mounting evidence of a coordinated Chinese campaign to infiltrate US research institutions under the pretext of academic collaboration, The Epoch Times reported.
(ANI)