BLOOMINGTON — The FBI believes an Indiana University researcher caught smuggling biological material was working for the Chinese government.
Youhuang Xiang was caught with E. coli, which was shipped from China to Bloomington. The package was labeled as women's underwear.
Experts say the material wasn’t harmful, but according to court records Xiang admitted it was intentionally mislabeled.
Xiang’s visa was terminated and he will be deported.
Special Agent Timothy O'Malley leads the FBI Indianapolis field office. He said Xiang "absolutely was a domestic threat."
"Maybe not to our health in this circumstance but certainly to our industries," O'Malley said. "I think the plot here was more related to the theft of research and development technology. And potentially to advance the research of another country at our expense."
O'Malley said investigators found evidence the researcher was working for the Chinese government.
But a professor who oversaw his research claims this kind of smuggling is common in biology research. Distinguished professor Roger Innes believes the arrest was "100% politically motivated."
Innes said it's become common for labs in China to conceal research samples sent to the US. This helps them avoid Chinese restrictions due to tense US-China relations.
The FBI has discovered a pattern of smuggled research material. At least five Chinese nationals at the University of Michigan have been charged.
Innes believes Chinese researchers are being targeted for their nationality rather than their actions. "This is McCarthyism," Innes said. "He was arrested because the contents of the package did not declare plasma DNA on the outside, but there was no safety risk. No intention of harm."
O'Malley disagreed with that assessment. He said the researcher could have declared the package's contents when it arrived. "Nationwide it's a big issue. It's actually huge," O'Malley said. "We're working at all the major ports across the country to identify biological threats."
Congressman Andre Carson serves on the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, While not condemning the arrest, he raised concerns.
"The FBI and DOJ should be pursuing real, evidence-based threats," Rep. Carson said. "While America should certainly enforce our customs laws and prevent the smuggling of unregulated materials, we must ensure these laws are enforced evenly and not on the basis of national origin."
Innes said the university ordered him to stop importing or exporting any materials for research. Authorities still have his notebooks and laptops. The FBI said the IU biology department is not under suspicion.
Indiana University wouldn't answer specific questions. A spokesperson said the university expects "all faculty, staff and students to follow IU policy as well as state and federal laws."
Carson added that enforcement must follow evidence, not ethnicity. "When someone admits to concealing biological material and smuggling it internationally, the law must be enforced — but we should avoid creating a climate of fear."
