‘AGROTERRORISM”: This Was Not The First Time, “Rest assured. I Have Mailed These Before”

One of the two Chinese nationals arrested for allegedly smuggling a toxic crop-killing pathogen, which also has devastating health effects on humans, stuffed the noxious fungus into her boots while entering the U.S. in 2022, documents show.

According to an arrest affidavit for University of Michigan post-doctoral research fellow Yunqing Jian and her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, Jian first brought Fusarium graminearum, described as a “potential agroterrorism weapon” in scientific literature, in August 2022.

A transcribed WeChat conversation between Jian and Liu shows Liu instructing Jian on how to smuggle the fungus, according to the affidavit.

Liu: “Teacher Liang’s seeds must be placed well.”

Jian: “Where to put it? I only have one pair of shoes. The insole cannot be pulled off.”

Liu: “Did you bring just one pair of shoes?”

Jian: “3 pair, wear one pair.”

Liu: “Where did the seeds get put? In the tube?”

Jian: “I put them in my Martin boots… in a small bag. The ziplock bag. Very small.”

Liu: “That’s good… Just put it in your shoes.”

Jian: “I stuffed them in the shoes.”

Fusarium graminearum creates “head blight,” a disease of wheat, barley, maize and rice, and “is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year,” according to the Department of Justice.

It is also toxic to humans, and can cause vomiting, liver damage and “reproductive defects in humans and livestock.”

The affidavit, which said Jian has been attempting to smuggle the pathogen into the U.S. since she began post-doctoral studies funded by China in 2022, also accuses Jian of asking a third party to send her Fusarium graminearum in January 2024.

“There are usually no problems,” Jian said in a message to the third person. “Rest assured. I have mailed these before.”

“Rest assured. I have mailed these before”  The package containing the fungus was intercepted by authorities before it reached its destination. The third person was allegedly involved in shipping the package, which also contained samples of the fungus hidden in a statistics textbook. Reports suggest that this third person, Chen, claimed they had previously mailed similar items. The samples of fusarium graminearum were eventually destroyed.

But nothing was done under Biden regime.

In he text exchange between the two Chinese nationals arrested in the agroterrorism, case,Yunqing Jian and Zunyong Liu is a 2022 WeChat conversation discussed smuggling the fungus Fusarium graminearum into the U.S. According to an FBI affidavit, Liu instructed Jian on how to conceal the pathogen, described as “Teacher Liang’s seeds,” in her shoes. Jian responded, “Where to put it? I only have one pair of shoes. The insole cannot be pulled off,” and later confirmed, “I put them in my Martin boots… in a small bag. The ziplock bag. Very small.” Liu replied, “That’s good… Just put it in your shoes.” This was part of an alleged plot to bring the crop-destroying fungus, classified as a potential agroterrorism weapon, into the U.S. for unauthorized research at the University of Michigan. Both were charged with conspiracy, smuggling, false statements, and visa fra

“AGROTERRORISM’: Chinese Bio-Terrorists Who Smuggled Dangerous Pathogen Worked in Laboratory Funded By Federal Government

‘AGROTERRORISM’: DOJ Charges Chinese Nationals With Smuggling Dangerous Pathogen into US

Forbes reports:

• Federal agents arrested two Chinese researchers for smuggling a fungus into the U.S. that requires a permit. Zunyong Liu was coming to the U.S. to visit his girlfriend, Yunqing Jian, who worked at a research lab at the University of Michigan when he was caught with four samples of Fusarium graminearum. A federal investigation found this wasn’t the first time they’d done so.

Two Chinese researchers have been charged with multiple federal crimes as part of a monthslong plan to smuggle a biological pathogen into the U.S. that investigators referred to as a “potential agroterrorism weapon,” according to recently unsealed federal-court filings.

Zunyong Liu, 34, a researcher at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China was apprehended in July 2024 at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, smuggling in a fungus known as Fusarium graminearum, with his girlfriend Yunqing Jian, 33, who is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan. Fusarium graminearum can cause severe diseases in plants such as wheat, barley, oats, and maize.

Customs and Border Protection agents found four plastic bags with “small clumps of reddish plant material” that later turned out to be Fusarium graminearum, as well as a small piece of filter paper with markings indicating it contained samples of different substances, and a note written in Mandarin, all stuffed inside a wad of crumpled-up tissues crammed into a small pocket of Liu’s backpack. During questioning, Liu originally said he knew nothing of the samples, suggesting they may have been placed into his bag by someone else. When asked why someone would put them into his bag, he replied he didn’t know, according to the court filings. Liu later changed his story, admitting to law enforcement officials he planned to clone the samples of Fusarium graminearum at the University of Michigan Molecular Plant-Microbe Interaction Laboratory where Jian worked.

The officers then went through Liu’s MacBook and two iPhones and found a series of exchanges with Jian, in which they discussed how to get the Fusarium graminearum through customs. On one of Liu’s iPhones, CBP officers found an article titled “2018 Plant-Pathogen Warfare under Changing Climate Conditions” that specifically mentioned “Fusarium graminearum.”

CBP and the FBI’s Detroit Field Office, which conducted the operation investigation, did not respond to requests for comment. The University of Michigan released a statement saying it would cooperate with law enforcement and “strongly condemn[ed] any actions that seek to cause harm, threaten national security or undermine the university’s critical public mission.” The university also specified it had never received funding from the Chinese government related to Jian’s research.

Fusarium graminearum can cause ‘head blight’ in plants

Biological pathogens, especially those from overseas, are heavily controlled substances by U.S. customs enforcement because of the risk they pose to crops and people.

“The fact they’re bringing a plant pathogen across international borders is serious,” said Eric Olson, a professor of wheat breeding and genetics at Michigan State University.

“This is so serious. You can’t do that.”

Fusarium graminearum is a type of fungus that, if left unchecked, can cause a deadly plant disease known as “head blight,” which can decimate crop yields, said Gary Bergstrom, professor of plant pathology at Cornell University, who has studied Fusarium graminearum for 40 years.

Despite the problems it can cause, Fusarium graminearum is controlled by regular inspections throughout the food chain and by use of fungicides. However, a foreign strain introduced to the U.S. could be more virulent and leave crops with no immunity to it defenseless, experts told Fortune.

“You could be introducing a strain from outside that is maybe one with resistance to the fungicides we use here,” Bergstrom said. “The chances of that are probably small, but they’re not zero.”

Contaminated grains and flour made from them also pose a risk to humans. The fungal toxins from Fusarium graminearum can cause severe vomiting and liver damage. “The sort of slang term is ‘vomit-toxin’,” Olson said.

A history of smuggling pathogens into the U.S.

As federal agents from the CBP and the FBI continued their investigations, they found evidence that this was not the first time Liu and Jian had planned to bring Fusarium graminearum into the U.S. In February of this year, federal agents questioned Jian over the matter. She, too, denied knowing any knowledge of alleged efforts to bring Fusarium graminearum into the U.S.

WeChat messages from August 2022 found on their phones indicated Jian had smuggled the fungus around that time. In a text conversation between the two, Jian told Liu she had hidden a plastic baggie containing Fusarium graminearum in her shoes when arriving at San Francisco International Airport. “I stuffed them in the shoes,” Jian wrote.

Other messages found on Jian’s phone showed extensive planning between herself and an individual named Xia Chen in messages dating back to January 15. In these messages, Jian instructed Chen on which biological samples to send her and how to do so without getting caught shipping them into the U.S. Jian told Chen to place the samples on cut-up pieces of filter paper, place them into a plastic bag, and then finally hide the bag in a thick book to be mailed to her.

“There are usually no problems,” Jian wrote to Chen according to messages included in the court filings. “Rest assured. I have mailed these before.”

The package Chen sent was apprehended by a CBP office in Louisville, Kentucky. Inside was an old statistics textbook containing 15 pieces of parchment paper with unknown biological substances that were subsequently destroyed, according to the filing.