Two researchers charged with allegedly trying to smuggle mpox through Detroit Metro Airport
Two foreign nationals working at the National Institutes of Health are facing charges for allegedly trying to smuggle mpox into the United States through the Detroit Metro Airport.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Vincent Munster, 53, a citizen of the Netherlands, and Claude Kwe, 38, a citizen of Cameroon, are accused of providing federal authorities with false statements after arriving at the McNamara Terminal on Jan. 25, 2026. Officials say the two people, who were researchers, originally traveled from Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, where an mpox outbreak was ongoing.
Customs and Border Protection officials spotted the individuals with a black plastic case, according to a criminal complaint. When asked, Munster and Kwe told federal officials the case was carrying diagnostic and testing equipment.
Further inspection uncovered 113 vials in styrofoam coolers. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI tested 20 of the vials shortly after the discovery — 17 of those vials contained "deactivated monkeypox virus" while another contained the chickenpox virus and two others contained human DNA.
"No researchers should believe their positions, credentials, or professional status place them above the law," said Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office, in a statement. "The allegations in this case are serious. They involve the dangerous and unlawful smuggling of deactivated Mpox virus into the United States and alleged efforts to mislead our federal agents."
Munster, chief of the Virus Ecology Section at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory, and Kwe, a research fellow, told federal officials that they were tasked with studying viruses that could affect the United States, according to the complaint. The individuals told officials they had been in the Republic of Congo for more than a week studying a strain of mpox causing the outbreak.
"Munster and Kwe did not present the true identities of the biological materials in their possession and did not provide or possess the necessary certifications. Rather, Munster and Kwe attempted to pass the samples off as unused diagnostics," read the complaint.
FBI investigators spoke with officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who determined that Munster and Kwe needed a USDA permit to travel into the U.S. with the materials, according to the complaint.
According to the USDA, the Code of Federal Regulations mandates that "no organisms or vectors shall be imported into the United States or transported from one State or Territory or the District of Columbia to another State or Territory or the District of Columbia without a permit."
"I am grateful for the outstanding and diligent work of the FBI Detroit JTTF, FBI Billings' Missoula Resident Agency, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection team at Detroit Metro Airport, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - OIG, for keeping our communities safe," Runyan said.
This comes one year after Chinese nationals were accused of smuggling a "dangerous biological pathogen" into Michigan. Yunqing Jian, 33, from the People's Republic of China, was deported after pleading guilty and receiving a sentence of time served. Her boyfriend, 34-year-old Zunyong Liu, traveled to China after his arrest and was unlikely to return to the U.S.
A third person, 28-year-old Chengxuan Han, was also arrested in June 2025 and pleaded no contest to three smuggling charges and to making false statements to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. Han was sentenced in September to time served and returned to China.
In November 2025, federal investigators charged three other Chinese nationals with conspiracy to smuggle goods into the U.S. and false statements. The cases against those people were dismissed.
