Youhuang Xiang, E. coli Smuggling, Indiana 2024

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Youhuang Xiang, a 32-year-old former post-doctoral researcher at Indiana University, has been sentenced for smuggling E. coli DNA from China into the United States. Xiang, a citizen of the People’s Republic of China, pleaded guilty to concealing the biologic materials in a shipment of clothing from Guangzhou Sci-Tech Innovation Trading, a company focused on science and technology innovation, in March 2024. The package was declared as containing ‘Underwear of Man-Made Fibers, Other Womens’ but actually contained samples of DNA of E. coli bacteria.

Xiang, who held a Ph.D. from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, applied for and received a U.S. Non-Immigrant student visa to perform postdoctoral research in the Department of Biology at Indiana University Bloomington. The FBI’s Indianapolis Division began investigating suspicious shipments from China to individuals affiliated with Indiana University in November 2025.

Xiang was interviewed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials at Chicago O’Hare International Airport on November 23, 2025, as he returned to the U.S. from a research trip in the United Kingdom. Initially, he denied any knowledge of smuggling but later admitted the shipping manifest was intentionally mislabeled. As part of his plea agreement, Xiang stipulated to the entry of a Judicial Order of Removal, which will result in his immediate removal from the United States to the People’s Republic of China.

Xiang has been sentenced to more than four months in prison, a $500 fine, and one year of supervised release. His case highlights the importance of monitoring and regulating the importation of biologic materials into the United States.

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