In some infuriating if not particularly surprising news, a University of Michigan research fellow named Yunqing Jian and her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, both of whom are subjects of the People’s Republic of China, were caught smuggling what FBI Director Kash Patel referred to as an “agroterrorism agent” into the United States.
Such is what was announced by the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr., in a press release on the matter in which he articulated how the Chinese nationals smuggled a biological pathogen into the United States to target the grain grown in the Midwest.
The statement began by noting the litany of crimes that the two PRC agents are being charged with, saying, “Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, citizens of the People’s Republic of China, were charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements, and visa fraud.”
Continuing, the statement described what it was that the two smuggled into the United States and what that pathogen does, saying, “The FBI arrested Jian in connection with allegations related to Jian’s and Liu’s smuggling into America a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon. This noxious fungus causes “head blight,” a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice, and is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year. Fusarium graminearum’s toxins cause vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in humans and livestock.”
Describing how the smuggling was connected to China and the CCP, the DOJ statement on the arrests and general matter said, “According to the complaint, Jian received Chinese government funding for her work on this pathogen in China. The complaint also alleges that Jian’s electronics contain information describing her membership in and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party. It is further alleged that Jian’s boyfriend, Liu, works at a Chinese university where he conducts research on the same pathogen and that he first lied but then admitted to smuggling Fusarium graminearum into America—through the Detroit Metropolitan Airport—so that he could conduct research on it at the laboratory at the University of Michigan where his girlfriend, Jian, worked.”
Commenting on the general situation, US Attorney Gorgon said, “The alleged actions of these Chinese nationals—including a loyal member of the Chinese Communist Party—are of the gravest national security concerns. These two aliens have been charged with smuggling a fungus that has been described as a ‘potential agroterrorism weapon’ into the heartland of America, where they apparently intended to use a University of Michigan laboratory to further their scheme.”
Further, FBI Director Kash Patel commented on the matter and noted that it shows the major threat to America that the CCP and its tendrils pose, saying, “This case is a sobering reminder that the Chinese Communist Party continues to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate our institutions and target our food supply, an act that could cripple our economy and endanger American lives.”
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Continuing, the FBI Director explained that the fungus was an instrument of terror and a major threat to America. He said, “Smuggling a known agroterrorism agent into the U.S. is not just a violation of law, it’s a direct threat to national security. I commend the FBI Detroit Division and our partners at CBP for stopping this biological threat before it could do real damage.”
Watch the FNC report on the agroterrorism attack here: