A Chinese scholar has been arrested after she was caught trying to smuggle a biological pathogen into the United States to be used for an “agricultural terrorism” attack.
Yunqing Jian, a visiting scholar at the University of Michigan, was arrested and charged with attempting to smuggle a highly dangerous biological pathogen into the United States.
The fungus is capable of crippling U.S. agriculture and posing serious threats to human and animal health, federal prosecutors revealed this week.
According to documents unsealed Tuesday in federal court, Jian, a researcher originally from China, and her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, face federal charges after attempting to bring Fusarium graminearum into the U.S. last July.
The fungus that devastates staple crops like wheat, rice, barley, and corn.
“These two aliens have been charged with smuggling a fungus that has been described as a ‘potential agroterrorism weapon’ into the heartland of America,” said U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr., warning of the “gravest national security concerns.”
“They apparently intended to use a University of Michigan laboratory to further their scheme,” he added, identifying at least one of the suspects as a loyal member of the Chinese Communist Party.
The dangerous fungus, which causes “head blight” in crops, is known to be responsible for billions in global agricultural losses annually.
According to federal prosecutors, it can also cause vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in both humans and livestock.
Liu, Jian’s boyfriend, was intercepted by Customs and Border Protection officers at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, carrying the pathogen into the U.S.
When first questioned, he lied to officers about the reason for his visit and denied any knowledge of the substance.
But under pressure, he confessed.
“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,” wrote an FBI special agent in the criminal filing.
Federal officials say Jian, who earned a Ph.D. in plant pathogens from Zhejiang University in China, was funded by a Chinese government-linked foundation to conduct post-doctoral research specifically on the Fusarium fungus.
She is set to appear in court Tuesday afternoon.
Disturbingly, this case marks the second criminal complaint in just one week involving a Chinese national at the University of Michigan.
Last Friday, federal prosecutors revealed a Chinese student had illegally voted in the 2024 U.S. election.
The student, in the U.S. on a valid visa, managed to obtain and cast a ballot in early voting last October before fleeing back to China.
The Trump administration reacted swiftly, announcing a crackdown on Chinese student visas and influence in U.S. universities.
“We will not tolerate the [Chinese Communist Party’s] exploitation of U.S. universities or theft of U.S. research intellectual property or technologies to grow its military power, conduct intelligence collection or repress voices of opposition,” a White House statement said.
The administration also pledged to “aggressively revoke” student visas connected to foreign espionage or anti-American activity.
As concerns mount over the Chinese Communist Party’s infiltration of American institutions, from universities to elections, the University of Michigan appears to be emerging as a recurring weak point in U.S. homeland security.
With agroterrorism threats now in play, critics argue it’s long past time for a full federal audit of foreign nationals operating in sensitive academic research.
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