{"id":3104,"date":"2023-04-27T11:38:01","date_gmt":"2023-04-27T16:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=3104"},"modified":"2023-04-27T11:38:02","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T16:38:02","slug":"woman-smuggles-dna-in-luggage-from-russia-because-she-didnt-want-questions-feds-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=3104","title":{"rendered":"Woman smuggles DNA in luggage from Russia because she didn\u2019t want \u2018questions,\u2019 feds say"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20370%20247'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-163.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"zeen-lazy-load-base zeen-lazy-load wp-image-3105\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"810\" height=\"402\" src=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-163.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3105\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-163.png 810w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-163-300x149.png 300w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-163-770x382.png 770w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-163-293x145.png 293w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/image-163-390x194.png 390w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Transportation Security Administration workers screening carry-on luggage. (Barry Bahler\/Department of Homeland Security)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>A woman looking to avoid \u201cunwanted questions\u201d had to answer to&nbsp;U.S.&nbsp;customs officials when they found 19 vials and tubes with DNA samples in her luggage upon arriving from&nbsp;Russia, federal prosecutors said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She said she smuggled vials over concerns that customs inspectors would think \u201cdisease agents\u201d were inside and that they\u2019d be taken from her at\u00a0Washington Dulles International Airport\u00a0in\u00a0Virginia, according to prosecutors.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The vials, packed in a Styrofoam cooler with dry ice and labeled as \u201cResearch Samples,\u201d contained DNA from different animal species \u2014 including from two species considered endangered under federal law, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now the woman, a Russian national who also lives in\u00a0Leesburg, Virginia, has since\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-edva\/pr\/russian-woman-pleads-guilty-smuggling-animal-dna\" target=\"_blank\">pleaded guilty to smuggling animal DNA<\/a>\u00a0into the country, the\u00a0U.S.\u00a0Attorney\u2019s\u00a0Office for the Eastern District of Virginia\u00a0announced in an\u00a0April 24\u00a0news release.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>McClatchy News&nbsp;contacted her attorney for comment on&nbsp;April 26&nbsp;and didn\u2019t immediately receive a response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-why-did-the-woman-bring-animal-dna-into-the-us\">Why did the woman bring animal DNA into the US?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>On a customs declaration form, the woman lied and said she wasn\u2019t bringing any animals, animal products or cell cultures into the&nbsp;U.S.&nbsp;when she arrived at&nbsp;Dulles airport&nbsp;on&nbsp;Aug. 19, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An inspection of her luggage proved otherwise, and customs officers discovered the Styrofoam cooler with nine empty tubes and 10 vials with a \u201cyellowish substance\u201d inside, according to court documents. She admitted animal DNA and \u201ccell lines\u201d were inside, according to prosecutors.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The woman said she was a researcher at the&nbsp;Institute of Molecular &amp; Cellular Biology&nbsp;in&nbsp;Novosibirsk, Russia, where she studies evolution and sequences animal DNA, a statement of facts filed in court says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She denied working for the Russian government but said the institute is funded by\u00a0Russia, according to the statement of facts. She also said the institute\u2019s lab doesn\u2019t deal with viruses, \u201ddangerous pathogens,\u201d or military projects.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The woman told officers she wanted to sequence the animal DNA in the&nbsp;U.S.&nbsp;as part of her research but didn\u2019t have any documents to corroborate this, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If she had declared having the DNA samples on the customs form, she feared \u201cthere would be too many questions\u201d she couldn\u2019t answer without paperwork, according to the statement of facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-kinds-of-animal-dna-samples-were-inside-the-vials\">What kinds of animal DNA samples were inside the vials?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The woman told customs officers that most of the DNA samples were of \u201cmustelids,\u201d including mink and Siberian polecat, according to the statement of facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>About 55 animal species, such as<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/animal\/mustelid\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0ferrets, badgers, otters and wolverines<\/a>, are mustelids, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Samples from two species, however \u2014 dhole and Siberian crane \u2014 are endangered under&nbsp;U.S.&nbsp;law and the&nbsp;Convention on International Trade&nbsp;in Endangered Species, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dholes, which are&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/animals.sandiegozoo.org\/animals\/dhole\">from eastern and southern&nbsp;Asia,<\/a>&nbsp;are red-haired dogs reminiscent of foxes but with longer legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Siberian cranes, which are white with red foreheads and legs and have wings with black tips, are mostly&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/savingcranes.org\/learn\/species-field-guide\/siberian-crane\/#:~:text=This%20Critically%20Endangered%20species%20is,Yangtze%20River%20Basin%20in%20China.\">found in&nbsp;East Asia<\/a>, including northeastern&nbsp;Siberia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The animal samples were suspended in a medium that also had \u201cfetal bovine serum\u201d from cattle, according to the statement of facts.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She said \u201cbringing the vials from&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;was her last-minute decision, and she was aware that it would take a long time to go through the proper authorization process with&nbsp;the United States&nbsp;government,\u201d the statement of facts says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The woman is facing up to 20 years in prison, but due to this being a federal crime it\u2019s possible the sentence will be less than the maximum penalty, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her sentencing is scheduled for&nbsp;Aug. 24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leesburg, where the woman lives, is about 40 miles northwest of\u00a0Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Original Article: <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmilitarynews.com\/2023\/04\/woman-smuggles-dna-in-luggage-from-russia-because-she-didnt-want-questions-feds-say\/\">https:\/\/americanmilitarynews.com\/2023\/04\/woman-smuggles-dna-in-luggage-from-russia-because-she-didnt-want-questions-feds-say\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A woman looking to avoid \u201cunwanted questions\u201d had to answer to&nbsp;U.S.&nbsp;customs officials when they found 19 vials and tubes with DNA samples in her luggage upon arriving from&nbsp;Russia, federal prosecutors said. She said she smuggled vials over concerns that customs inspectors would think \u201cdisease agents\u201d were inside and that they\u2019d be taken from her at\u00a0Washington Dulles International Airport\u00a0in\u00a0Virginia, according to prosecutors. The vials, packed in a Styrofoam cooler with dry ice and labeled as \u201cResearch Samples,\u201d contained DNA from different [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3104"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3106,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3104\/revisions\/3106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}