Chinese researchers allegedly attempted to smuggle biological materials from Wuhan into the United States and misled federal authorities about their plans.
Documents indicate that Chengxuan Han was taken into custody on Sunday after arriving at Detroit Metropolitan Airport from Shanghai. She faces charges of smuggling goods and making false statements to officials.
Interestingly, Han marks the third Chinese scientist implicated in smuggling biological materials into Michigan recently.
Court documents revealed that upon her arrival, border officials intercepted four packages from China, which contained materials related to roundworms.
These packages were sent in both 2024 and 2025, directed to individuals linked to a lab at the University of Michigan.
However, Han misled the officials, claiming she wasn’t sending packages to the Michigan lab. She even described the contents as plastic cups instead of Petri dishes.
When questioned by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations, Han eventually admitted to shipping biological materials linked to her research to the lab as part of her doctoral studies at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan.
Moreover, investigators discovered that Han had deleted data from her electronic devices just three days prior to her arrival in the U.S.
Cheyvoryea Gibson, a special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office, stated, “The alleged smuggling of biological materials by Chengxuan Han poses a direct threat to public safety and national security, undermining the integrity of our research institutions.”
Gibson commended the relentless efforts of the FBI’s Detroit Counter Intelligence Task Force, which worked closely with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations in Detroit. He emphasized that the Michigan FBI will pursue any threats to the country vigorously.
Han had previously been denied a visa to enter the U.S. on two occasions in March. Court documents noted that during one visa application attempt, she failed to clearly answer basic questions regarding herself and her research.
A letter from the University of Michigan indicated that Han was invited to be a visiting scholar at the lab. It’s worth noting that Wuhan gained international attention at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
