Federal agents intercepted the undeclared biological materials at Detroit’s airport in 2018, tracing them to a Chinese military academy and an NIH-funded research network
by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – A scientist working for China’s military supplied coronavirus materials that were secretly carried into the United States more than a year before the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to newly released federal records.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers discovered three undeclared vials hidden inside paper towels and wax film during an inspection of an arriving passenger at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on November 28, 2018. The courier told investigators that the materials had been provided by Yusen Zhou, a scientist at China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences, and were intended for University of Minnesota virologist Fang Li.
Zhou served at the Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, part of the People’s Liberation Army’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences. Federal records identified him as one of several Chinese researchers who had repeatedly collaborated with Li on coronavirus studies, including work involving highly pathogenic SARS and MERS viruses.
The intercepted materials were not SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. Laboratory testing conducted by the joint Department of Homeland Security and FBI National Bioforensic Analysis Center found genetic material associated with porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, or PEDV—a coronavirus that can cause severe illness and death among pigs—as well as antibody-related genetic material.
Because the vials lacked documentation and were connected to sensitive coronavirus research, Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate took possession of them for testing. Investigators also found that Li had previously held a federal permit involving bat coronavirus DNA, though the expired authorization did not permit the foreign importation of the intercepted materials.
The documents, released by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul, reveal a broader research network connecting the Minnesota laboratory with scientists tied to the Chinese military and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
One researcher in Li’s laboratory had earned a degree from a university formerly associated with China’s First Military Medical University but did not disclose military service or affiliation on his U.S. visa application, according to the DHS report. Another researcher listed Wuhan Institute of Virology scientist Zhengli Shi as his doctoral adviser for a thesis on bat coronavirus receptors.
Emails included in the document release show that in April 2018, Shi asked Li to arrange for a student to hand-carry SARS research antibodies from the United States to China. Li warned that the plan was unwise because of tensions between Washington and Beijing but reportedly suggested using another scientist to ship the antibodies instead.
In October 2018, another member of Li’s laboratory offered to send live PEDV and its growth protocol to prominent University of North Carolina coronavirus researcher Ralph Baric, the records show. The concealed vials were discovered at the Detroit airport the following month.
The DHS intelligence report said Li’s research was supported by National Institutes of Health grants and warned that the links between his associates, China’s military, and other Chinese institutions presented a possible national security threat.
Federal investigators said further examination was needed to determine whether the research and resulting scientific advances were benefiting the United States or China—and whether individuals associated with the laboratory were acting as unconventional collectors of American scientific information.
The same unidentified courier was stopped again at Detroit’s airport in 2021 while preparing to leave the United States. Agents found 132 undeclared vials believed to contain laboratory flies, along with a computer belonging to another individual and the credentials needed to access it. The vials were seized, but the courier was permitted to depart.
Paul said the records document undeclared coronavirus materials moving between Chinese and American laboratories as early as 2018—well before the world knew of COVID-19.
The disclosure does not establish that the intercepted animal coronavirus materials were connected to the creation or outbreak of SARS-CoV-2. It does, however, expose serious failures in biological-material controls while revealing the depth of cooperation between federally funded American laboratories and scientists linked to China’s military coronavirus programs.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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