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Federal agents have arrested a second University of Michigan scholar from China for smuggling biological material into the U.S. for research at the university, according to a criminal case filed Monday.
This development follows federal charges filed last week against another Chinese scholar at the University of Michigan and her boyfriend, a scientific researcher, for allegedly conspiring to smuggle a dangerous biological pathogen into the U.S.—a pathogen capable of damaging agricultural crops and causing illness in humans and livestock.
In the latest case, authorities have charged Chengxuan Han with smuggling biological materials into the U.S. for her work at the University of Michigan laboratory from September 2024 to March 2025, and with lying to investigators about it. A court document states that Han was invited as a visiting scholar to the University of Michigan lab. She listed a U-M professor as her advisor.
It is unclear if the two cases are connected.
The court document states that Han is a Chinese citizen currently pursuing a Ph.D. from the College of Life Science and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in Wuhan, China.
She told federal agents after arriving Sunday night at Metro Airport from Shanghai that she was a doctoral student at HUST and was coming to the University of Michigan for one year to complete her research project.
While being interviewed by federal agents at the airport, Han initially denied sending any packages to the U.S., the court document said. Authorities allege that she sent four packages from Wuhan containing biological material to individuals connected to the university lab.
“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,” interim U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon said in a statement. “The American taxpayer should not be underwriting a (People’s Republic of China)-based smuggling operation at one of our crucial public institutions.”
