The United States Department of Justice announced that three Chinese researchers connected to the University of Michigan have been charged with smuggling biological materials from China to the United States. Officials said this marks a significant development amid growing concerns about China’s misuse of academic exchange programmes, as reported by The Epoch Times.

According to the report, a criminal complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against Bai Xu and Zhang Fengfan for conspiring to smuggle biological materials, while Zhang Zhiyong was charged with lying to federal agents. All three were arrested at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on October 16, just before they were about to fly back to China.

Investigators linked the three to Han Chengxuan, a researcher from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China. Han had arrived in the United States earlier this year on a J-1 visa and was detained in June. Authorities discovered that she had shipped petri dishes containing genetically modified C. elegans worms to Michigan, mislabelling the packages to avoid detection. She later pleaded no contest to smuggling and lying to customs officials and was deported in September after serving her sentence.

Prosecutors said several intercepted packages connected to Han had been sent to Bai and Zhang Fengfan, often marked falsely as "plastic plates".

The packages contained genetically modified nematodes and DNA molecules, materials that could pose biosecurity risks. During questioning, Bai reportedly refused to cooperate with customs officials. After Han’s deportation, the University of Michigan launched an internal investigation, but all three accused researchers refused to participate. They were dismissed from the university, and their J-1 visas were revoked, making them subject to deportation, according to The Epoch Times.

When questioned, the suspects confirmed that Han was a member of the Chinese Communist Party. Prosecutors further linked Han’s mentor, Liu Jianfen, a senior scientist at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, to a key research lab run by China’s Ministry of Education.

Officials said the case is part of a growing pattern showing attempts by Chinese entities to infiltrate American research institutions under the pretext of academic collaboration, as reported by The Epoch Times.