“The guidelines for importing biological materials into the U.S. for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars,” said John Nowak, who leads field operations at U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The scientist was interviewed and arrested Sunday after arriving on a flight from China, where she is pursuing an advanced degree at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan. She planned to spend a year completing a project at the University of Michigan.
Her shipments, including an envelope stuffed inside a book, were intercepted last year and earlier this year and opened by authorities, the FBI said.
The court filing doesn't indicate whether the FBI believes the biological material was risky, though U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. said smuggling "threatens our security."
The scientist remains in custody awaiting a bond hearing Wednesday.
“It doesn't strike me as something that is dangerous in any way. But there are rules to ship biological material,” said Michael Shapira, a biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who read the court filing and spoke to The Associated Press.
The government last week charged two Chinese scientists who are accused of conspiring to smuggle a toxic fungus into the U.S. One was turned around at the Detroit airport and sent back to China last year, while the other, a researcher at the University of Michigan, was arrested. She remains in custody.