Hidden in a sock: Chinese researcher accused of trying to smuggle vials of ‘biological material’ out of US

Not sure if this has been mentioned or correlated with CoronaVirus but sure is a strange coinkidink. Related? Qurious minds want to know.

A Chinese researcher was arrested after he allegedly tried to smuggle vials of a “biological material” on a flight from the United States to Beijing.

Bags belonging to Zaosong Zheng, 29, were inspected on Dec. 9 at Boston Logan International Airport after agriculture specialists for Customs and Border Protection identified the Chinese national as “a high risk for possibly exporting undeclared biological material,” according to a redacted FBI affidavit.

Customs officers found 21 vials containing a brown liquid wrapped in a plastic bag and hidden in a sock. Officers also found a laptop belonging to a Chinese national whose name had been redacted from the affidavit.

“These vials contacted what appeared to be biological materials that were not properly declared or packaged for transportation in a commercial aircraft,” the affidavit said.

Officers approached Zheng before he boarded the plane to Beijing and asked if he was traveling with any biological or research materials. Zheng denied doing so but later acknowledged the bags carrying the vials were his.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/hidden-in-a-sock-chinese-researcher-accused-of-trying-to-smuggle-vials-of-biological-material-out-of-us

Chinese researcher accused of trying to smuggle vials of ‘biological material’ out of US hidden in a sock

An affidavit from an FBI agent says Zheng Zaosong was detained at Boston Airport after vials containing a ‘brown liquid’ were found in his checked baggage

The doctoral student who had been doing research at Beth Israel Hospital faces charges of ‘making false, fictitious and fraudulent statements’ to US agents

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3043167/chinese-researcher-accused-trying-smuggle-vials-biological