Inside Story of the Chinese Scholar Arrested for Smuggling Crop-Killing Fungus in the US
Facts Matter
The Epoch Times
5 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 8 June 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
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Summary
On June 3, federal agents arrested a Chinese researcher who was working at the University of Michigan.
The reason for the arrest was that this scholar was allegedly part of a scheme to smuggle a biological pathogen into the United States.
Specifically, she and her boyfriend were trying to smuggle in a type of fungus that can be used to target food crops here in America (things like wheat, barley, and rice). This particular fungus would have the effect of absolutely decimating these crops. In fact, the feds characterized this plot as being a form of “agroterrorism,” or agricultural terrorism.
Furthermore, after looking into it, it turns out that this latest incident wasn’t this couple’s first time—as they’ve actually smuggled in viral pathogens on several other occasions as well.
Now that the FBI’s indictment has been unsealed in federal court, let’s go through the details of it all together—because the details are wild.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I have a truly interesting story for you today. |
| 0:03.2 | Even with everything that's been happening between Trump and Elon, |
| 0:05.9 | I would say that this is still the story of the week. |
| 0:09.4 | On Tuesday, June the 3rd, federal agents arrested a Chinese researcher |
| 0:13.6 | who was working over at the University of Michigan. |
| 0:16.8 | And the reason for the arrest of this Chinese scholar |
| 0:19.7 | was because she was part of a scheme to smuggle in a biological pathogen into the United States. |
| 0:26.5 | Specifically, her and her boyfriend were trying to smuggle in a type of fungus that can be used to target food crops right here in America, things like wheat, barley, and rice. |
| 0:36.2 | And this particular fungus would have the effect of just absolutely decimating these crops. |
| 0:41.2 | In fact, the feds, they characterize this whole plot as a form of agricultural terrorism. |
| 0:46.8 | And furthermore, after we actually looked into it, it turns out that this latest incident |
| 0:50.8 | wasn't even the couple's first time, as they've actually smuggled in viral |
| 0:54.7 | pathogens like this on several other occasions as well. And now that the FBI's indictment has been |
| 1:00.2 | made public because it was unsealed in federal court, in fact, you can see it up on your screen for |
| 1:04.0 | yourself, let's go through the details of all of it together because the details are truly |
| 1:08.6 | wild. So to start with, let me briefly introduce to you the characters in this particular story. |
| 1:13.7 | There's two of them. |
| 1:14.4 | Firstly, you have Ms. Yun Ching Jian. |
| 1:17.6 | And just because her name is a little hard to pronounce, moving forward, I'll just call her Jane. |
| 1:22.1 | She's a 33-year-old citizen of China who graduated with a doctorate degree in plant pathogens from Jirjong University. |
| 1:29.3 | She then transferred over to the University of Michigan where she's been working as a researcher |
| 1:34.0 | in the microbiology lab that they have on campus. Then you also have Mr. Zun Yong Leo. That's her |
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