A medical student has been arrested after allegedly trying to smuggle cancer research materials out of the US, the Associated Press reports.
According to the Boston Globe, Zaosong Zheng, who was studying in the US on a visa sponsored by Harvard University, was arrested last month at Logan International Airport. He allegedly had vials wrapped in cellophane and socks in his luggage that contained the work of a coworker at a Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center lab, it adds, noting that in court document Zheng said he hoped to bring these samples back to China to conduct further research and publish and take the credit for the work.
The Globe reports that Zheng's luggage also contained a laptop belonging to another researcher who already traveled to China, suggesting to officials that the two were in cahoots. Zheng is being held without bail, the AP says.
This appears to be part of China's bid to obtain US intellectual property, the Globe says. It adds that numerous researchers have been stopped at Logan as part of a US crackdown on researchers suspected of such activity, and notes that the National Institutes of Health has also been investigating foreign influence on US research.