DOJ Charges Two Chinese Nationals For Smuggling Potential Bioweapon Into US

Yunqing Jian and Zunyong Liu, citizens of the People’s Republic of China, face charges of conspiring to smuggle a fungus considered a bioweapon into the United States.

Scientific studies label the fungus “Fusarium graminearum” as a possible agroterrorism threat due to its role in causing “head blight,” a devastating plant disease, as noted in a Tuesday announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) in the Eastern District of Michigan.

The statement adds that the disease affects “wheat, barley, maize, and rice, and is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year.”

They’re the ones they’ve caught.