A Chinese Ph.D. student from Wuhan has been arrested in Detroit for allegedly smuggling undeclared biological materials into the United States and lying to federal agents.
Chengxuan Han, a Chinese national studying at the College of Life Science and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, is the second Chinese individual in just days to face charges related to the illicit shipment of sensitive biological substances.
According to federal prosecutors, Han sent four packages to U.S. recipients associated with a lab at the University of Michigan, each containing undeclared biological materials related to roundworms.
Han arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on June 8 on a J1 student visa. During a Customs and Border Protection inspection, she allegedly gave false statements regarding the packages and had wiped her electronic device just three days before arriving. In a subsequent FBI interview, Han admitted to sending the packages and lying about their contents.
“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 U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr.
The case comes just days after the arrest of another Chinese national, Yunqing Jian, and her boyfriend Zunyong Liu, for smuggling Fusarium graminearum, a dangerous crop-destroying fungus classified in scientific literature as a potential agroterrorism weapon.
Liu, also a researcher, allegedly attempted to bring the pathogen into the U.S. for unauthorized research at the same University of Michigan lab.
Federal investigators found a document titled “2018 Plant-Pathogen Warfare Under Changing Climate Conditions” on Liu’s phone and discovered that Jian had ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
Former FBI counterintelligence official Bill Kowalski said such incidents were long anticipated by national security experts. “Clearly this was a high national security threat,” he noted.
FBI Director Kash Patel explained the broader concern: “The Chinese Communist Party is working relentlessly to infiltrate American research institutions. This isn’t random — it’s part of a pattern.”
Han is scheduled to appear in federal court in Detroit on Monday.