Chinese Researcher Arrested for Alleged Smuggling
A Chinese researcher was taken into custody after allegedly attempting to smuggle biological materials into the U.S. from Wuhan.
On Sunday, Chengxuan Han was arrested shortly after arriving at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on a flight from Shanghai. She faces charges for smuggling goods into the United States.
Court documents indicate that border agents found four packages containing biological material related to roundworms, which were sent from China.
These parcels, delivered in 2024 and 2025, were addressed to individuals associated with a lab at the University of Michigan.
According to the filings, Han deceived officers by stating she had not shipped anything to the Michigan lab and claimed the packages contained plastic cups rather than petri dishes.
However, Han ultimately acknowledged shipping biological materials from her research as a Ph.D. student at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in Wuhan.
Authorities also noted that she deleted the contents of her electronic device three days prior to her arrival in the U.S.
“The alleged smuggling of biological materials by Chengxuan Han poses a significant threat to public safety and national security, undermining the integrity of our nation’s research institutions,” stated Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office. “The FBI in Michigan will aggressively pursue anyone who seeks to harm our country.”
The court documents reveal that Han was denied a visa to the U.S. on two occasions in March.
In one instance, she struggled to answer fundamental questions regarding her background and research.
A letter from the University of Michigan indicated that Han had been invited to serve as a visiting scholar at the lab.
Recently, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that two Chinese nationals had been formally charged after allegedly smuggling a “dangerous biological pathogen” into the United States, purportedly for research at the same University of Michigan laboratory.
