A Chinese researcher working in the United States has pleaded guilty to smuggling E. coli bacteria into the country. Yuhuang Xiang, 32, a Chinese national and former postdoctoral researcher on a J-1 visa at Indiana University, was sentenced to more than four months in prison after admitting to concealing bacterial DNA in a shipment sent from China.According to the US Attorney’s Office in India, the package was falsely labeled as women’s underwear to avoid detection. It was delivered to Chiang’s home in Bloomington, Indiana, in March 2024. Chiang later admitted that the shipment contained DNA from E. coli, a bacteria normally found in the intestines but capable of causing serious illness if harmful strains are handled or fall into the wrong hands.The case first came to light last year when the FBI began investigating suspicious shipments from China to individuals linked to Indiana University.
Investigators suspected a package sent by a science and technology company but it was declared to be clothing.Chiang was later stopped by US Customs and Border Protection officers at Chicago O’Hare International Airport in November 2025 after returning from the United Kingdom. At first, he said he knew nothing about the package, but later admitted that he had deliberately hidden the biological material. Chiang also did not disclose his Chinese Communist Party membership to US immigration authorities.
FBI officials and its director Kash Patel himself have warned that smuggling biological materials into the country without proper safeguards could have dire consequences. Patel also said this is another example of the US visa “privilege” being used to exploit state institutions for illegal activities After his imprisonment, Chiang was ordered to leave the United States. He will also face a fine and a period of supervised release.“This member of the Chinese Communist Party exploited a federally funded research grant… to smuggle dangerous biological materials into the United States,” said John Walk, Inspector General of the US Department of Agriculture.In recent months, US authorities have accused several foreign researchers, including Chinese nationals linked to the University of Michigan laboratory, of trying to smuggle biological materials into the country. In a separate case, a Russian-born Harvard University researcher was arrested in early 2025 for bringing frog embryos into the United States without the proper permits.
