Biological Smuggling Conspiracy - FBI, CHINA, University of Michigan -
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Three Chinese Scholars at University of Michigan Charged in Biological Smuggling Conspiracy
DETROIT, Nov. 7, 2025 – Federal prosecutors have unsealed charges against three Chinese research scholars accused of conspiring to smuggle biological materials into the United States, marking the latest escalation in a sweeping counterintelligence crackdown on threats to American academic institutions.Xu Bai, 28; Fengfan Zhang, 27; and Zhiyong Zhang, 30 – all holders of J-1 exchange visas – were arrested last month while attempting to flee the country from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The trio worked in the prestigious Shawn Xu Laboratory at the University of Michigan's Life Sciences Institute, studying nematodes (roundworms) used in genetic research.Bai and Fengfan Zhang face felony conspiracy charges for allegedly orchestrating the receipt of multiple undeclared packages containing concealed petri dishes of Caenorhabditis elegans cultures shipped from Wuhan, China.
Zhiyong Zhang is charged separately with making false statements to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, denying any knowledge of the shipments or their sender despite evidence to the contrary.
The smuggling operation traces back to Chengxuan Han, a former University of Michigan Ph.D. candidate from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan. Han, who pleaded no contest to similar charges earlier this year, mailed the biological samples under false customs declarations – labeling them as innocuous items like "plastic plates."
She was sentenced to time served and deported in September.Court documents reveal a pattern of deception: When Han arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in June to join the lab, Fengfan Zhang and Zhiyong Zhang were there to pick her up.
After her arrest, the three scholars stonewalled a university internal probe, leading to their termination on Oct. 8 and loss of visa status. Days later, they scrambled to book flights home, only to be intercepted mid-escape."These charges show the FBI and our partners will aggressively investigate and hold accountable those who violate our laws," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement.
U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. for the Eastern District of Michigan called it "part of a long and alarming pattern" of foreign nationals exploiting U.S. research hubs.
The case falls under the National Counterintelligence Task Force (NCITF), a FBI-led coalition of 55 federal agencies and 143 state and local partners. Every FBI field office hosts a dedicated Counterintelligence Task Force (CITF), and Detroit's unit – working alongside Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and CBP – spearheaded this probe as part of a nationwide bio-smuggling initiative.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi warned that smuggling under the guise of academic collaboration "threatens America’s national and agricultural security."
This incident echoes earlier 2025 charges against two other Chinese nationals at the same university for smuggling Fusarium graminearum, a crop-devastating fungus flagged as a potential agroterrorism weapon.
The defendants remain in ICE custody awaiting trial. Conspiracy to smuggle carries up to 20 years in prison; false statements, up to five.
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