On Monday, US authorities revealed that they had arrested another Chinese scientist for allegedly smuggling biological material into America. The criminal complaint comes just days after a Chinese couple was charged with illegally bringing a biological pathogen, classified as an “agroterrorism weapon” into the country.

The FBI has since identified the researcher as Chengxuan Han, who was arrested Sunday at the airport in Detroit. As per the official criminal complaint against her, Han is a Chinese doctoral student at the College of Life Science and Technology at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan.

University of Michigan emerges as common link: Chinese nationals arrested

An unexpected link tying Han and the previously arrested Chinese nationals to the University of Michigan has also emerged. Last week’s news noted that Yunqin Jian, a postdoctoral fellow at the American institution, was charged with multiple counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, smuggling goods into the country and making false statements to investigators. So was her boyfriend, Zunyoung Liu.

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Although little is known about what Han brought into the US, officials said that she landed at the Detroit Metropolitan airport after flying in on flight from Shanghai. Documents suggest that she has been charged with smuggling goods into the country and making false statements. FBI Director Kash Patel shared via social media that Han ultimately admitted to lying about the contents of the packages in a follow-up interview with FBI and ICE HSI agents.

What did Chinese scientist Chengxuan Han smuggle into the US?

According to the complaint, Chengxuan Han has sent four shipments from China – since September – to staff members at a University of Michigan laboratory. The packages contained biological material related to roundworms, which requires a government permit. It has since also been determined that contents in question were concealed in the shipments, some even being discovered between the pages of a book.

While Yunqin Jian and Xunyoung Liu have been accused of smuggling a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, scientifically viewed as a “potential agroterrorism weapon,” it has yet to be revealed if Han’s shipment brought in anything dangerous. Michael Shapira, a biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, told the Associated Press that the biological material doesn’t seem “dangerous in any way.” Nonetheless, “there are rules to ship biological material.”

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Chinese researcher in custody ahead of hearing

Officials believe that Han had plans to spend a year at the University of Michigan lab to complete a project. Upon her arrival into the US, she made false statements about the Shanghai-to-Michigan shipments.

In addition to these claims, Chengxuan Han is also said to have wiped off contents of her electronic devices three days before her Detroit arrival. The complaints said that the Chinese woman did so to “start fresh” during her American sojourn.

Chengxuan Han, who is now the third Chinese national to be arrested in such a situation, is in custody. A bond hearing has been slated for on Wednesday.

Kash Patel said that Han’s case “is part of a broader effort from the FBI and our federal partners to heavily crack down on similar pathogeon smuggling operations, as the CCP works relentlessly to undermine America’s research institutions.”