‘Chengxuan Han is charged with smuggling goods into the United States and making false statements’
When federal agents charged Chengxuan Han with smuggling biological material into the U.S., it followed similar charges against two of her compatriots.
The new charges against Han, a “visiting scholar” at the University of Michigan, came after allegations against Yunqing Jian and Zunyong Liu last week.
Jian is a “research fellow” at the Shan Lab at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is accused of bringing an “agroterrorism weapon” in the form of a crop fungus into the country.
Han, meanwhile, “is charged with smuggling goods into the United States and making false statements,” according to the Detroit Free Press. The Department of Justice alleges Han’s packages sent to the University of Michigan “contained biological material related to round worm.”
“The court filing indicated that Han’s offer letter from U-M states she was invited as a visiting scholar to the lab,” the Detroit Free Press reported.
A DOJ news release states further:
According to the complaint, Han is a citizen of the PRC who is currently pursuing a Ph.D. from the College of Life Science and Technology in the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in Wuhan, PRC. In 2024 and 2025, Han sent four packages to the United States from the PRC containing concealed biological material. These packages were addressed to individuals associated with a laboratory at the University of Michigan. On June 8, 2025, Han arrived at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on a J1 visa. Customs and Border Protection officers conducted an inspection of Han, during which Han made false statements about the packages and the biological materials she had previously shipped to the United States. CBP officers also found that the content of Han’s electronic device had been deleted three days prior to her arrival in the United States.
She admitted to sending the materials, according to the DOJ.
United States Attorney Jerome Gorgon said the allegations “is part of an alarming pattern that threatens our security.”
“The American taxpayer should not be underwriting a PRC-based smuggling operation at one of our crucial public institutions,” Gorgon stated in the news release.
In January, the university announced it would cut ties with a Chinese university following federal charges brought against students who were photographing a military base.
During President Donald Trump’s first term, the federal government aggressively sought to prosecute infiltration by Chinese Communist Party agents in the country, particularly those tied to academia and research. President Joe Biden restricted the program.
Dozens of researchers and professors were investigated and charged for their connections to the Chinese Communist Party, as extensively reported by The College Fix.
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IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: FBI Director Kash Patel shares news on X; FBI Director Kash/X
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