Yunqing Jian & Zunyong Liu, Chinese researcher couple charged with smuggling biological pathogen in clandestine agro-terrorism plot designed to wreak havoc to U.S crops in concert with the China’s Communist Party. Lian was doing postdoctoral studies in Michigan at the time of her arrest.
A Chinese researcher in Michigan and her boyfriend have been accused of a year long clandestine operation that involved smuggling a biological pathogen designed to wreak havoc to crops in the U.S in an alleged ‘agro-terrorism,’ plot.
Yunqing Jian, 33, a University of Michigan postdoctoral fellow alongside her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, 34, were on Tuesday charged with multiple counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, smuggling goods into the country and making false statements to investigators, according to a Department of Justice complaint.
The two Chinese nationals were intercepted as they tried to smuggle a dangerous agricultural pathogen known as Fusarium graminearum into the United States in July of last year. According to authorities, the fungal pathogen could ‘potentially’ be used as a biological ‘terrorism’ weapon.
The pathogens ‘can cause devastating diseases in crops’ with the compound responsible for causing billions of dollars worth of damage to livestock, wheat, barley, maize and rice globally each year, NBC News reported.
The alleged biological plot could have potentially upended U.S food production according to the federal complaint.
Liu was entering the country at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in July, 2024, when border officers found Fusarium graminearum, in his backpack, according to the complaint. The small clumps of reddish plant material were discovered in four plastic baggies tucked into a wad of tissues.
Officials allege that the smuggled compounds were likely brought to the United States with the intent of being developed and eventually released into agricultural fields as a kind of ‘biological’ weapon amidst ongoing research at the Michigan lab.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan today announced federal charges against Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, a couple from China who are accused of smuggling a fungus described as a “dangerous biological pathogen” into the United States. Mr. Liu… pic.twitter.com/HgBViRa1B5
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 3, 2025
Liu and his girlfriend according to charging documents researched the pathogen as university students in China, were they received funding. Since 2023, Jian had been working at the University of Michigan’s Molecular Plant-Microbe Interaction Laboratory.
Liu initially told the officers that he did not know what the materials were and that someone must have planted them in his bag, before eventually admitting to attempting to smuggle the compound.
‘Liu stated that he intentionally hid the samples in his backpack because he knew there were restrictions on the importation of the materials,’ the complaint states. ‘Liu confirmed that he had intentionally put the samples in a wad of tissues so CBP Officers would be less likely to find and confiscate them, and he could continue his research in the United States.’
Liu told investigators he planned to clone the different strains and make additional samples if the experiments on the reddish plant material failed, according to the complaint.
Liu was prevented from entering the U.S. and sent back to China, Detroit News reported.
Liu and Jian worked together at the UM lab until April 2024, when Liu returned to China.
A search of Liu’s devices revealed messages between the couple, indicating Jian previously smuggling biological material into the U.S. as far back as in August, 2022, with one message between the pair describing Liu smuggling the pathogen in ‘his shoes,’ according to FBI investigators.
Liu and Jian have since been accused of plotting the alleged ‘agro-terrorism,’ in concert with China’s Communist party. Jian’s electronics were found to contain information describing her membership in and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party.
FBI Director Kash Patel addressed the arrest late Tuesday on X, formerly Twitter.
‘This case is a sobering reminder that the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply, which would have grave consequences … putting American lives and our economy at serious risk.’
Jian made an initial appearance in federal court Tuesday afternoon and was held without bond while awaiting a detention hearing Thursday.
Chinese officials to date have not publicly commented on the indictment against the Chinese nationals.
