Detroit (AFP) – A Chinese scientist entered the United States last year with a toxic mushroom hidden in his bag.
The nurse is known as Fusarium Graminearum, which can attack wheat, barley, corn, rice, sick livestock and people, the FBI said in a court file in Detroit.
The FBI said that the scientific magazine describes it as a “potential weapon for agricultural benefit.”
Yonking Jian, 33, and Zioniung Liu, 34, was accused of conspiracy, smuggling, false data and visa fraud.
“The alleged measures of these Chinese citizens, including a loyal member of the Chinese Communist Party, are one of the most dangerous national security concerns,” said American lawyer Jerome Georgon Junior.
Jian appeared before the court and returned to prison to wait for the bond session on Thursday. The lawyer who was appointed only for her initial appearance refused to comment.
In July 2024, Leo was removed at Detroit Airport and returned to China after changing his story during an interrogation about the red vegetable materials that were discovered in his bag.
He said that the FBI initially said that he was initially ignorant of samples, but later he said he was planning to use materials to search at the Michigan University Lab, where Jian worked where Liu worked previously.
The FBI said that the authorities had found a scientific article on the Liu phone, entitled “The War of Plant Nurses under the changing climate conditions.”
A week before reaching the United States, according to the investigators, Leo exchanged messages with Gian, who said: “It is unfortunate that I still have to work for you.”
“Once you are completed, everything will be easy,” said the FBI Liu.
After months, in February, FBI agents visited Jian at the campus laboratory. She said, “100 % no,” when she was asked if she helped Liu with the nurse in the laboratory. The FBI said that a signed statement was found on its phone, expressing its support for the Communist Party in China.
The letters between the two in 2024 indicate that Jian was already tending to Fosarium Grinroom at the campus laboratory before Liu was arrested at Detroit Airport. The university does not have federal permits to deal with it.
The United States does not have a handover treaty with China, making the arrest of Leo unarmatically unless it is no longer.
