CBP intercepted biological materials tied to U.S.–China virus network before COVID, new documents show

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has released another batch of documents related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The latest records show that U.S. officials intercepted undeclared biological materials tied to a U.S.–China coronavirus research network as early as 2018, likely in an attempt to avoid international tensions and regulatory scrutiny, Paul said.

The documents, which include a Department of Homeland Security intelligence report, primarily focus on a network centered around University of Minnesota virologist Fang Li.

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In the years leading up to the pandemic, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intercepted undeclared biological materials tied to this network of American and Chinese coronavirus researchers centered around Li, whose lab has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Paul stated in a news release.

In April 2018, Zhengli Shi, a scientist at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), asked Li to have a student transport antibodies for SARS research from the United States back to China.

Li told Shi that was not a good idea, given the "current tension between the USA and China," according to the documents. He suggested another scientist ship the antibodies instead.

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In October of that same year, Qibin Geng, a student in Fang Li's lab, offered to send live PEDV—a swine coronavirus—along with a growth protocol to Ralph Baric, a prominent American researcher.

Geng requested Baric's shipping address for the live virus. Geng had previously earned a degree from an institution affiliated with China's People's Liberation Army (PLA), but did not disclose any military service or affiliation on his visa application.

In November 2018, CBP agents at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport intercepted three undeclared vials concealed in paper towels and wax film from a courier, who named Yusen Zhou of China's Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS) as the source.

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In June 2021, the same courier was stopped again at the Detroit airport while traveling out of China, carrying 132 vials and a laptop belonging to someone else.

CBP reported that the vials likely contained a species of fly commonly used as a model organism in biological research. The courier was also carrying a laptop issued by a U.S. research institution to another individual, along with login credentials.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Li.

As Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Paul has released several batches of internal documents through his public archive, "The Reading Room."

Previous releases highlighted private doubts expressed by the authors of the "Proximal Origin" paper regarding the virus's source, as well as how the FBI halted a planned border inspection of another virus researcher.