3 researchers charged with smuggling biological materials into U.S.
Three Chinese students have been charged with smuggling biological materials into the United States, the Justice Department said. File photo by Mike Theiler/UPI
Nov. 6 (UPI) — Three Chinese researchers at the University of Michigan have been charged with conspiring to smuggle biological materials into the United States, the Justice Department said.
The three, Xu Bai, 28; Fengfan Zhang, 27 years old; and Zhiyong Zhang, 30, were researchers on J-1 visas who worked at the UM Xianzhong Xu Lab, commonly known as the Shawn Xu Lab, according to a press release.
In 2024 and 2025, Bai and F. Zhang allegedly received shipments containing concealed roundworm-related biological material from China to the United States by Chengxuan Han, a Chinese citizen. Han held a Ph.D. student at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China.
In June, Han traveled to the United States to work in the UM lab. She pleaded no contest to three counts of smuggling and one count of making false statements. She was convicted and subsequently deported from the United States.
Bai and F. Zhang then allegedly told CBP officers that they had received packages from Han after his arrest or deportation from the United States.
“Allegedly attempting to smuggle biological materials under the guise of ‘research’ is a serious crime that threatens the national and agricultural security of the United States,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
“We will remain vigilant against such threats from foreign nationals who would take advantage of American generosity to advance a malicious agenda.”
