Researcher Detained By FBI At Airport

A Cornell University researcher traveling to China was detained by the FBI at Syracuse's Hancock International Airport after a suspicious substance was found in his family's luggage, authorities said.

The man, who has a Chinese passport, attempted to pass through a security checkpoint with his wife and daughter Sunday afternoon when security workers conducting a random luggage search found glass vials containing an unknown substance.

The researcher, Yin Qing Qiang, 38, will be charged with theft of government property, as he works on a government-funded research project, said Phil Looney, the FBI's supervisory senior resident agent in Syracuse.

"We're treating this very suspiciously because we can't take anybody's word that these are not hazardous materials," Looney said, adding that officials do not believe the substance was linked to a terrorism plot.

Seven people, including the researcher and his family, were treated for possible exposure as a precaution, although none displayed symptoms.

The researcher, his wife, 4-year-old daughter and four others were decontaminated in the University Hospital parking lot. They were then treated at the hospital.

The daughter was held overnight for observation, said hospital spokeswoman Doretta Royer.

Police charged the girl's mother, Zheng Quihong, 36, with endangering the welfare of a child. The couple were being held at the Onondaga County Justice Center. The father was to be arraigned Monday.

Cornell spokeswoman Linda Grace-Kobas said Monday that university officials were trying to determine in which department the researcher was employed and what research he was working on.

By William Kates