From Wuhan to Michigan: Feds nab ANOTHER Chinese scholar in alleged bio-material smuggling plot



Federal authorities arrested another University of Michigan scholar from China this week, revealing an alarming pattern of potential national security threats.

Chengxuan Han is facing federal charges for attempting to smuggle biological material into the United States, according to a criminal case filed Monday and reviewed by the Detroit News.

'The American taxpayer should not be underwriting a (People's Republic of China)-based smuggling operation at one of our crucial public institutions.'

Han is pursuing a doctorate at the College of Life Science and Technology in the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, and was invited to participate in a visiting scholar program at UM.

From September to March, while in China, she allegedly mailed four packages containing "biological material related to round worms" to the UM Professor Laboratory, according to prosecutors. The recipients of the packages were not named.

Interim U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon stated that Han obtained the biological materials from the Wuhan university.

On Sunday evening, Han arrived at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport after catching a flight from Shanghai.

An FBI agent claimed that Han, while undergoing secondary inspection at the airport, "made false statements that she had not sent packages to members of the UM Lab."

RELATED: Agroterrorism plot? Chinese nationals arrested for smuggling potential bioweapon into US: FBI

Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

"When pressed, Han admitted that she had shipped packages to members of the UM Lab. Han initially stated to (Customs and Border Patrol) officers that the packages were plastic cups (rather than petri dishes) and a book (omitting the envelope with suspected biological materials concealed in it)," the FBI agent wrote.

During another interview with the FBI, Han "admitted to sending the packages, admitted that the packages contained biological material related to round worms, and admitted to making false statements to the CBP officers during her inspection," prosecutors' argued.

Han told federal authorities that the concealed or mis-manifested biological material included Nematode Growth Medium, a formulation used to cultivate microscopic roundworms, and plasmids, small and circular DNA molecules in bacteria and some microscopic organisms.

According to the FBI, Han claimed she sent one of the packages "as a 'game' with clues written above each plasmid."

Han also allegedly deleted the contents of her electronic device a few days before arriving in Michigan.

According to the complaint, “Han stated she deleted the content to ‘start fresh’ while she was in the United States.”

RELATED: 'There are Chinese spies at Stanford': Shocking report unmasks CCP's espionage at American universities

Nematode. Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

Gorgon called Han's alleged attempt to smuggle in the material "an alarming pattern that threatens our security."

"The American taxpayer should not be underwriting a (People's Republic of China)-based smuggling operation at one of our crucial public institutions," the interim U.S. attorney added.

CBP Acting Director of Field Operations John Nowak stated, "The guidelines for importing biological materials into the U.S. for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars."

Han faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.

Her attorney, Rhonda Brazile, declined a request for comment from the Detroit News. UM did not respond to the outlet's request for comment.

Last week, another University of Michigan scholar and her boyfriend, both from China, were arrested by federal authorities for allegedly attempting to smuggle a potential bioweapon into the U.S.

These arrests come just days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the Trump administration would "begin revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields."

However, President Donald Trump indicated on Wednesday that his administration would be pulling back those efforts, citing a new trade deal with China.

He wrote in a post on Truth Social, “OUR DEAL WITH CHINA IS DONE, SUBJECT TO FINAL APPROVAL WITH PRESIDENT XI AND ME. FULL MAGNETS, AND ANY NECESSARY RARE EARTHS, WILL BE SUPPLIED, UP FRONT, BY CHINA. LIKEWISE, WE WILL PROVIDE TO CHINA WHAT WAS AGREED TO, INCLUDING CHINESE STUDENTS USING OUR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOOD WITH ME!). WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55% TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10%. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!”

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Agroterrorism plot? Chinese nationals arrested for smuggling potential bioweapon into US: FBI



Federal authorities arrested two Chinese nationals after they were accused of attempting to smuggle a potential bioweapon into the United States, claiming they wanted to use it to conduct research at the University of Michigan.

On Tuesday, the Department of Justice announced charges against Yunqing Jian, 33, and her boyfriend, 34-year-old Zunyong Liu.

'These two aliens have been charged with smuggling a fungus that has been described as a "potential agroterrorism weapon" into the heartland of America, where they apparently intended to use a University of Michigan laboratory to further their scheme.'

According to authorities, Liu arrived in the U.S. with a bag of fungus, Fusarium graminearum, which could be used as a potential agricultural terrorism weapon. The biological pathogen causes a devastating disease in wheat, barley, maize, and rice, the Detroit News reported.

RELATED: Rubio to 'aggressively' revoke Chinese nationals' student visas to eviscerate CCP's spy invasion

Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

An FBI agent claimed in a criminal filing that Liu made “false statements” to Customs and Border Protection officers regarding his reason for visiting the U.S. and his knowledge of the fungus in his possession.

“Ultimately, Liu admitted to smuggling the pathogen and stated that he brought the pathogen into the United States so that he could conduct research on it at a laboratory at the University of Michigan where his girlfriend, Jian, worked,” the agent wrote.

Interim U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon stated, “The alleged actions of these Chinese nationals — including a loyal member of the Chinese Communist Party — are of the gravest national security concerns.”

“These two aliens have been charged with smuggling a fungus that has been described as a ‘potential agroterrorism weapon’ into the heartland of America, where they apparently intended to use a University of Michigan laboratory to further their scheme,” Gorgon added.

RELATED: Chinese national accused of voting in US election skips hearing, prompting bench warrant

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The federal charges follow President Donald Trump’s crackdown on China’s infiltration of American universities.

Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the administration would implement new visa restrictions on Chinese students.

He wrote in a post on X, “The U.S. will begin revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.”

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Substitute teacher, 70, suspended after telling Chinese-American fifth-graders their parents left China because it's communist, COVID created in Chinese lab



A 70-year-old substitute teacher was suspended after telling a Brooklyn classroom of mostly Chinese-American fifth-graders that their parents left China because it's a communist country and that COVID-19 was created in a Chinese lab, the New York Daily News reported.

What are the details?

Peshe Schiller was filling in Thursday for an absent teacher in the gifted and talented class at P.S. 204 in Bensonhurst, the paper said, adding that a parent said 24 of the 27 students in the class are Chinese-Americans.

Schiller and the fifth-graders began discussing vaccines and COVID-19, the Daily News said, adding that parents said she declared that the virus was created in a lab.

But she noted to the paper that "we were talking about how vaccines were developed and why, and this kid out of nowhere said, 'the virus was produced by animals.' I said everyone has their own opinion but I heard on the news that it was developed in a laboratory."

Students also claimed Schiller said all Chinese people are communists, people who visit the country end up dead, and China has no religious freedom, the Daily News said.

"Today we had a racist teacher," one student wrote in classroom notes that the paper reviewed. "She said Covid-19 was made in a lab by China. She also said China had no freedom of religion. Not true obviously."

But Schiller told the Daily News she described China as "a communist country, and they don't have freedom" and that their parents left the country because "they wanted you to have freedom" and "that's why you're here."

"Maybe they were upset that I said China is a communist country, they took offense to that," she added to the paper. "But it is."

Parents are angry

Parents are outraged, saying Schiller's alleged comments were insensitive and inappropriate for elementary school kids, the Daily News said.

"It's outrageous to bring anything political like this forward to a group of 10-year-olds," one parent who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the paper.

"Why would ... a teacher talk to a bunch of 10-year-olds like that?" another parent wondered, according to the Daily News. "I feel like this is more than racist; it's more like bullying."

One parent said, "I asked myself, 'Why would she say that?' Is it because the majority of the class is Asian?" the paper reported.

Schiller denied to the Daily News she said anything racist, adding that the accusing students may have made things up because Schiller reprimanded them for using a bathroom on the wrong floor.

Now, after teaching for 37 years, Schiller is barred from her job while the New York City Department of Education's Office of Equal Opportunity investigates, the paper said.

More accusations

One parent also said several students reported that Schiller described Filipinos as dirty and that she pulled down her mask to describe her dislike of Mayor Bill de Blasio's vaccine mandate, the Daily News said.

But Schiller denied to the paper that she made any comments about Filipinos and said that she got vaccinated before the DOE's mandate.

What did school district officials have to say?

Parents said an aide overheard students talking about Schiller during lunch and that administrators pulled her from the classroom and sent a guidance counselor to talk with students the next day, the Daily News said.

"Hateful and racist behavior has absolutely no place in our schools and this substitute was immediately suspended and removed from our classrooms following this deeply disturbing allegation," DOE spokeswoman Katie O'Hanlon told the paper. "Schools must be safe havens, and the school offered counseling and support to these students."

One parent told the Daily News that the situation shows that not even elementary students are immune to anti-Asian behavior that's spiked in New York City this year and elsewhere.

"It's kind of alarming," the parent added to the paper. "It taught me a lesson that I need...to start teaching them at this young age to pay attention to these kinds of issues. That even if an adult talks like that you need to speak up. School is supposed to be a safe place and unfortunately it's not in this case."