Federal prosecutors have charged senior NIH virologist Vincent Munster (originally from the Netherlands) and his junior colleague Claude Kwe (Cameroon) with conspiracy to smuggle biological materials into the United States and with making false statements to federal authorities. According to the criminal complaint, the two scientists returned from the Republic of Congo in January carrying a large black case that they allegedly told Customs and Border Protection officers contained diagnostic and testing equipment. Federal investigators later discovered 113 vials packed inside Styrofoam coolers inside the case. Of the first twenty vials tested by the FBI, seventeen reportedly contained deactivated mpox virus, one contained chickenpox virus, and two contained human DNA. Both men worked at Rocky Mountain Laboratories, one of the federal government’s premier Biosafety Level 4 facilities, where researchers study some of the world’s most dangerous pathogens. If convicted, they face up to five years in prison.
On its face, this sounds like a story about improperly transported laboratory specimens and a customs declaration.
It isn’t.
Leave a Reply