- Two Chinese nationals charged with smuggling an agroterror fungus into the U.S. via Detroit Airport.
- One suspect allegedly pledged loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party and worked in a U-M lab.
- The FBI says the smuggled pathogen poses a serious threat to U.S. food security and public health.
Lead:
On a spring day in Michigan, the FBI moved in on two foreign researchers who federal agents say carried something far more dangerous than a visa violation. Hidden inside their luggage was a fungal pathogen capable of decimating America’s wheat and corn supply — a microbe long considered a tool of agroterrorism.
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday, June 3, unsealed charges against two Chinese nationals, Yunqing Jian, 33, and her boyfriend Zunyong Liu, 34, accusing them of conspiring to smuggle a biological agent, making false statements, and committing visa fraud. Their target lab? The University of Michigan. The case details were made public in a DOJ press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.
How the FBI Caught Them
The case, led by the FBI Detroit Counterintelligence Task Force in coordination with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), began when agents identified suspicious travel and lab activity linked to Jian and Liu. According to the criminal complaint, Jian brought a live sample of Fusarium graminearum into the U.S. — a fungal organism known for causing “head blight” in wheat, barley, rice, and maize.
This fungus not only ravages crops but releases toxins that cause vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive harm in humans and livestock. It’s considered so dangerous that national security officials have classified it as a potential agroterror weapon.
CCP Ties and Lab Intentions
According to federal prosecutors, Jian had received research funding from the Chinese government for work on the pathogen in China. Investigators found digital evidence on Jian’s devices indicating that she is a loyal member of the Chinese Communist Party. FBI officials believe her goal was to use laboratory access at the University of Michigan to continue working with the pathogen in the United States.
Jian’s boyfriend, Liu — a researcher at a Chinese university — was also charged. Agents say he first lied about transporting the fungus through Detroit Metropolitan Airport, but later admitted it was intended for use in the same lab where Jian was employed.
FBI: “Grave Threat” Averted
U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. called the case “one of the gravest national security concerns involving biological material in recent memory.” The pair allegedly used academic credentials to gain access to one of the Midwest’s top university labs — a setting federal agents say they exploited to further China’s scientific goals under the radar.
CBP Director Marty Raybon added that Jian’s actions were especially alarming because she attempted to “clandestinely bring potentially harmful biological materials into the United States.”
Kash Patel: “Justice Will Be Done”
In a post on X, FBI Assistant Director Kash Patel confirmed the arrests and warned of the broader threat posed by CCP-linked infiltration of American scientific institutions:
