{"id":29656,"date":"2025-06-03T22:35:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T22:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=29656"},"modified":"2025-06-03T22:35:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T22:35:09","slug":"chinese-couple-charged-with-attempt-to-smuggle-noxious-fungus-into-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=29656","title":{"rendered":"Chinese couple charged with attempt to smuggle noxious fungus into US"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description o3-type-body-base\">Your guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington, business and the world<\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=9ea35e39-1d97-4b9e-9a9a-4518487a1893&amp;newsletter-id=65b8fec772badb00166eafc6\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>The justice department has charged two Chinese nationals with a conspiracy to smuggle a \u201cpotential agroterrorism weapon\u201d into the US. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Federal prosecutors accused a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan and her boyfriend of seeking to bring a noxious fungus into the US to research it in the college laboratory, according to a criminal complaint announced on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The alleged conduct was \u201cof the gravest national security concerns\u201d, Jerome Gorgon, interim US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The case is the latest by the US targeting Chinese nationals as Washington continues to focus on national security risks stemming from Beijing. It comes as the two countries are locked in a bitter trade war while the US seeks to quash the flow of illicit fentanyl originating from China. <\/p>\n<p>The toxins of the <em>Fusarium graminearum<\/em> cause liver damage, vomiting and reproductive defects in livestock as well as humans; diseases that have an impact on rice, wheat and other crops; and lead to billions of dollars in losses each year, according to federal prosecutors.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to an FBI agent\u2019s affidavit, Liu Zunyong was stopped and questioned by customs officers as he entered the US through a Detroit airport in July last year. It said he admitted he had smuggled the fungus and that he aimed to conduct research on it at the University of Michigan laboratory where his girlfriend, Jian Yunqing, worked.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Liu said he planned to clone different strains of the organism and that he had sought to hide samples in his backpack due to US import restrictions. Liu, who could not be reached for comment, was ultimately denied entry to the US and returned to China after the samples were seized. <\/p>\n<p>It was not clear why US authorities were only now filing charges in the case, and a justice department representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n<p>Jian researched \u201cplant-pathogen interactions\u201d in China before moving to the US. Her visa application said she intended to study topics \u201cdistinct and different\u201d from <em>Fusarium graminearum<\/em>, according to the affidavit. <\/p>\n<p>Jian, a member of the Chinese Communist party, initially claimed she had no information on Liu\u2019s conduct. But electronic communications showed the pair had discussed shipping biological materials, the FBI agent said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A statement from the University of Michigan said it was co-operating with the investigation, adding: \u201cWe strongly condemn any actions that seek to cause harm, threaten national security or undermine the university\u2019s critical public mission.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Jian on Tuesday made her initial appearance in a Detroit court, after which she was temporarily detained. The judge set a detention hearing for Thursday. Jian\u2019s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>The charges against Jian and Liu include conspiracy to defraud the US, smuggling goods into the country, visa fraud and false statements.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/9ea35e39-1d97-4b9e-9a9a-4518487a1893\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":29657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}