U.S. says it has arrested another Chinese researcher accused of smuggling biological material
The American authorities said on Monday that they had arrested a Chinese researcher accused of smuggling biological materials into the country, The second of this condition in the days.
The FBI said in a criminal complaint that the researcher, who was identified as Chengkakuan Han, a Chinese doctorate student at the Faculty of Life Sciences and Technology at the University of Hoazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, was arrested on Sunday at the airport in Detroit.
According to the complaint, since September, Han has sent four shipments from China that contains hidden biological materials for employees at a laboratory at the University of Michigan, where she planned to spend a public completing the project. Officials said Han made wrong statements about shipments when Federal agents interrogated her when she arrived in the United States from Shanghai.
Two Chinese citizens were charged last week after the FBI said it was determined that one of them tried to smuggle toxic fungi to the United States, as well as to search at the University of Michigan. One of the researchers at the university was arrested and remains in detention, while the other was deprived of the entry of the United States last year and remains obedient.
According to the complaint, the biological material is accused of smuggling – sometimes hidden between the pages of the book – linked to round worms and requires a government permit.
The complaint also claims that Han She deleted the contents of her electronic device Three days before she arrived in Detroit.
“Han stated that she had deleted the content” to start the new “while she was in the United States,” she says.
Han was detention before the bond session on Wednesday.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to an e -mail request for comment outside working hours.
Regarding the Chinese citizens who were previously charged, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said last week that he was not aware of the situation, but that the Chinese government “always asked Chinese citizens abroad to completely abide by local laws and regulations, while protecting their legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law.”
The University of Michigan did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday outside working hours.
In a statement in response to the case last week, the university said it was cooperating with federal law enforcement and that it has strongly condemned “any measures seeking to harm, threaten national security, or undermine the critical general task of the university.”
Victor Galia, a professor of plant science at the University of Queensland in Australia, said that while the fungi, known as Fosarium Guraminrom, are found in every part of the world where wheat is grown, the genetic alternative from a different country “can be more aggressive or scandal, which is why we have a biological list to prevent individuals to one side of the rest in another way.
Likewise, while research materials like what Han accused of smuggling can be transferred between countries, it must be done “through all appropriate agreements and controls,” said Galile.
He said that round worms “may be harmful to crops or environment, or they may be benign and do not do anything.” “But you cannot determine this unless it is accurately investigated.”
