Chinese PhD student from Wuhan arrested smuggling biological materials after deleting electronic evidence: DOJ
A national from the People's Republic of China (PRC) has been arrested after allegedly smuggling biological materials into the U.S. and making false statements to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers about the contents of her packages.
The Department of Justice said Chengxuan Han is charged with smuggling goods into the U.S. and making false statements.
According to the complaint, Han is a citizen of the PRC who is working on her Ph.D. at the College of Life Science and Technology in the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan.
Han allegedly sent four packages to the U.S. from the PRC in 2024 and 2025, containing concealed biological material. The packages were sent to individuals at a laboratory at the University of Michigan.
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Han arrived at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Sunday on a J1 visa, when CBP officers conducted an inspection.
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During the inspection, Han allegedly made false statements about the packages and the materials she previously shipped to the U.S. CBP officers also discovered the content of Han's electronic device had been deleted three days before she arrived in the U.S.
After the inspection, FBI agents and agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) interviewed Han. During the interview, Han allegedly admitted to sending the packages and revealed they contained material related to round worms. She also allegedly confessed to making false statements to CBP officers during the inspection.
"The alleged smuggling of biological materials by this alien from a science and technology university in Wuhan, China—to be used at a University of Michigan laboratory—is part of an alarming pattern that threatens our security," U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. said. "The American taxpayer should not be underwriting a PRC-based smuggling operation at one of our crucial public institutions."
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Han's arrest comes on the same day another Chinese national, 42-year-old Shenghua Wen, pleaded guilty to federal crimes after he exported firearms, ammunition and other military items to North Korea, at the direction of North Korean government officials.
Wen, a citizen of the People's Republic of China, came to the U.S. in 2012 on a student visa, where he remained illegally despite his visa expiring in December 2013.
Before coming to the U.S., the DOJ said, Wen met with North Korean government officials at a North Korean Embassy in China. At the meeting, the officials directed Wen to obtain goods on behalf of North Korea.
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Nearly 10 years later, North Korean government officials contacted Wen using an online messaging platform in 2022, instructing him to purchase and smuggle firearms, sensitive technology and ammunition, from the U.S. to North Korea via China.
The DOJ said the plea agreement shows Wen shipped at least three containers of firearms from Port of Long Beach in California to China, which then went to North Korea, in 2023.
He also took steps to hide that he was shipping firearms to North Korea illegally by falsifying information regarding the contents of the containers.
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Many of the firearms Wen sent to North Korea were purchased in Texas. He then drove the firearms to California, where he arranged to have them shipped. According to the DOJ, Wen purchased a firearms business in Houston in May 2023 using money from one of his contacts in North Korea.
By December 2023, one of the shipments left Port of Long Beach and arrived in Hong Kong in January 2024. It was then transported from Hong Kong to Nampo, North Korea.
Wen intended to send another shipment to North Korea containing about 60,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition in September, as requested by North Korean officials, the DOJ said.
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He also obtained sensitive technology with the intention of sending it to North Korea. The technology, the DOJ said, included a chemical threat identification device and a handheld broadband receiver that detects known, unknown, illegal, disruptive or interfering transmissions.
The DOJ added that he also acquired or offered to acquire a civilian airplane engine and thermal imaging system that could be mounted on a drone or some other aircraft for reconnaissance and target identification.
North Korean officials wired Wen about $2 million during the operation, to be used for obtaining firearms and other goods.
Ultimately, he admitted during the plea agreement that he knew it was illegal to ship the items to North Korea, while also admitting to never having the necessary licenses to ship the ammunition, firearms and sensitive technology to North Korea.
Wen also confessed to working at the direction of North Korean officials and did not provide notification to the Attorney General of the U.S.
As part of the agreement, Wen faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years for violating the IEEPA and 10 years for acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 18.Original article source: Chinese PhD student from Wuhan arrested smuggling biological materials after deleting electronic evidence: DOJ
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