Declassified documents show a Chinese military scientist secretly shipped coronavirus-related vials to a Minnesota research lab in 2018, more than a year before COVID-19 emerged, according to a Senate committee report.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents intercepted three vials, wrapped in a paper towel and sealed with wax, in a courier’s bag at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, a declassified Department of Homeland Security report states.
The courier identified the sender as Yusen Zhou, a researcher tied to China’s People’s Liberation Army who died in 2020.
The vials were headed for University of Minnesota professor Li Fang, whose research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and linked to the Wuhan Institute of Virology — the site U.S. authorities believe is where the pandemic originated, the report said.
The report warned that some of Mr. Li’s collaborators have ties to the PLA and China’s Thousand Talents recruitment program and “may pose a risk to the national security of the United States.”
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