Third Chinese Student Charged with Smuggling Biological Materials into U. Michigan
Chengxuan Han brought in four packages that “contained biological material related to round worms” from China and claimed it was part of “a game”.
Last week, I wrote that federal agents had arrested Yunqing Jian, a University of Michigan scholar originally from China, on charges related to the attempted smuggling of a hazardous biological pathogen into the United States.
Jian, 33, and her boyfriend Zunyong Liu, 34, are accused of conspiring to bring the fungus Fusarium graminearum (classified in scientific literature as a potential agroterrorism weapon) into the country supposedly for research purposes at a University of Michigan laboratory.
Now, Chengxuan Han, a Chinese national and Ph.D. student at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in Wuhan, has been charged with smuggling biological material into the United States and making false statements to federal authorities. Han was apprehended this weekend, upon arrival at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on a J1 visa after a flight from China.
Upon Han’s arrival to the US, border officers discovered Han sent four packages that “contained biological material related to round worms” from China, according to court documents.
The packages, which were sent in both 2024 and 2025, were addressed to individuals associated with a laboratory at the University of Michigan.
However, Han lied to officers and said she didn’t send packages to members of the Michigan lab, according to court documents. She also claimed the packages contained plastic cups, rather than petri dishes.
When the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations grilled Han, she admitted to shipping the biological materials to the lab from her research as a Ph.D. student from the College of Life Science and Technology in the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in Wuhan, according to court documents.
When questioned about the samples, Han indicated that how she labelled them was part of “a game”.
Han was linked to four packages of concealed or mis-manifested biological material addressed to people associated with the UM lab from September 2024 to March, according to the FBI. The two recipients are not identified by name.
Han told investigators the packages contained Nematode growth medium, which is used to cultivate a type of worm in laboratory settings, according to the court filing. The packages also contained plasmids, which the National Human Genome Research Institute defines as a small DNA molecule found in bacteria and some microscopic organisms.
Han denied that anybody directed her to send the shipments. When asked about one package, Han said she sent it “as a ‘game’ with clues written above each plasmid,'” according to the FBI.
It is interesting to note that the content of Han’s electronic device had been deleted three days prior to her arrival in the United States.
“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 US Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. in a statement.
“The American taxpayer should not be underwriting a PRC-based smuggling operation at one of our crucial public institutions.
Roundworms can cause a variety of diseases depending on the specific species involved and the tissues or organs affected. Either humans or animals can be infected.
However, the specific species or strain of roundworm involved has not been publicly identified in the criminal complaint or official statements. Authorities and court documents only reference “biological material related to roundworms,” without further taxonomic detail.
A common laboratory model roundworm is Caenorhabditis elegant, a free-living, transparent nematode (roundworm) about 1 mm in length, commonly found in temperate soil environments. It is widely used as a model organism in biological research, especially in genetics, neuroscience, and developmental biology, due to its simple anatomy, short life cycle, and fully sequenced genome. Notably, C. elegans is not a parasite of humans or animals and does not cause disease in mammals.
But if this was the type of roundworm Han brought in, what would be the need for secrecy?
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Comments
How about we infect her with her roundworm to see what happens, We can call it a game too. The FAFO game.
wow
one mightttt think that the whole demvid19 shutdown of america was a contrived calculated action of the ccp and the dnc
Weird. That’s never happened before.
https://www.forbes.com/2009/08/27/ted-kennedy-soviet-union-ronald-reagan-opinions-columnists-peter-robinson.html
Round worms for round-eyes.
The questions a
Sled why we let so many Chinese into the U.S.? It’s allied money
ANd it goes to members of both parties. Also concern about military age men crossing the southern border.. well we have 300,000 Chinese military age people in our colleges. Many in the PLA to start with and spread all over the country. Worried about an invasion.? It has happened. Just waiting on the bullets to fly. We are so vulnerable.
why are Chinese allowed into the country, as they are an enemy that steals our intellectual property?
At this point, I agree with you. Even if ostensibly not connected to the CCP, every Chinese citizen is suspect because of actions the CCP can take against relatives of the citizen.
If we knew even 10% of the crap China did to us during the Biden administration, we would all crap in our pants
Or in your onesies in the case of Democrats
Is that why incontinent Biden was always crapping his pants:)?
Caught 3 missed 300. Hell, Biden probably helped them for his 10 percent
“Chengxuan Han brought in four packages that “contained biological material related to round worms” from China and claimed it was part of “a game.”
YOU HAVE DIED OF DISᐧENTRY
Let us not forget the dangerously weird illegal lab that was found in California, by chance!! because an inspector saw a hose sticking out of a wall, only to find a mess inside with all sorts of illegal biologics and vials marked “Ebola”, etc. The owner was a nefarious Chinese guy who had opened illegal labs here and there. Whatever happened with that??
The Chinese have to be examined with the understanding that the PRC is an enemy of America and is looking to destroy us, whenever they get the chance. This has to be taken seriously because the Chinese are deadly serious.
How many others are there?
Overt warfare with the United States entails far higher risks, so the CCP has devised various strategies to weaken us first. They use trade, bribery and blackmail to insinuate operatives or hardware into strategic positions, and will use that to cause lots of mayhem during future confrontations. They have already successfully subverted significant portions of our political and academic systems (as well as the NBA, for what that’s worth). They have infiltrated over 200K of “students”, who have doubtlessly been preparing more nastiness on demand, so we are headed for some very interesting times, indeed!
Wouldn’t it be prudent to close the lab at UM and isolate all of the biologicals there until it is determined what is going on? It is impossible that material would have been sent to the lab without someone there knowing it was coming and being involved in its use.
I think a thorough investigation by DHS and the FBI is necessary before the lab can be allowed to continue. We have seen the damage to health and the economy caused by the Wuhan leak. There is a serious risk to our national security with no room for error.
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