Two Chinese nationals have been charged with smuggled a dangerous biological pathogen called Fusarium graminearum into the U.S., according to the Justice Department. Scientific literature classifies the fungus “as a potential agroterrorism weapon.”
Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, are citizens of the People’s Republic of China and have been charged with “with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements, and visa fraud,” the Justice Department states. The FBI has arrested Jian.
The pathogen causes a disease known as “head blight,” a fungal disease that “commonly affects wheat, barley, maize, and rice, and is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year,” the department says, adding that the fungus causes “vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in humans and livestock.”
Jian had allegedly received funding from the Chinese government to study the pathogen in China.
According to the complaint filed against Jian, her “electronics contain information describing her membership in and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party.”
“The alleged actions of these Chinese nationals—including a loyal member of the Chinese Communist Party—are of the gravest national security concerns,” U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. said in a statement Tuesday.
Jian’s boyfriend, Liu, was also studying the same fungus at a Chinese university. The complaint against Liu alleges that he first lied about smuggling the pathogen into the U.S. but later admitted to bringing the fungus into the country through the Detroit Metropolitan Airport for the purpose of conducting research on it at the University of Michigan where Jian worked.
Cheyvoryea Gibson, special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office, said Jian and Liu “exploited their access to laboratory facilities at a local university to engage in the smuggling of biological pathogens, an act that posed an imminent threat to public safety.”
“Thanks to the exceptional investigative efforts of the FBI Detroit Counterintelligence Task Force, in close cooperation with U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations these dangerous activities have been effectively halted,” Gibson added.
Marty C. Raybon, CBP director of Field Operations, called the investigation “complex,” and praised “CBP’s critical role in protecting the American people from biological threats that could devastate our agricultural economy and cause harm to humans.”
The FBI and CBP are continuing to investigate the case.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the “case is a sobering reminder that the CCP is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply, which would have grave consequences … putting American lives and our economy at serious risk.”
This article was originally published at www.dailysignal.com
