LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — A visiting scholar from China has admitted to sneaking worms and DNA samples through Detroit Metro Airport—a case that now has University of Michigan officials squirming.
At 28, Chengxuan Han has now gone from lab work to courtroom, entering a no-contest plea to three smuggling charges and one count of lying—the legal equivalent of a guilty verdict at sentencing.
Investigators say Han mailed mislabeled packages of petri dishes, nematode growth medium, and plasmids from China to UM lab associates, at one point calling the shipment “a fun letter.” She was arrested in June.
“This alien from Wuhan, China, smuggled round worms and other biomaterials,” U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. said. “The University of Michigan … was going to give her more than $41,000 in a year to do her worm research at the Life Sciences Institute.”
Han, who maintains her innocence despite the plea, faces up to 25 years in prison at her Sept. 10 sentencing, according to The Detroit News.
Customs officials called the stunt more than a paperwork slip. “The guidelines for importing biological materials into the U.S. … are stringent, but clear,” CBP Director of Field Operations Marty Raybon said. “Actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars.”