Two researchers have been detained and charged with conspiracy to smuggle after they were allegedly captured at a major airport with vials containing the mpox virus and human DNA.
Detention at Detroit Airport
Vincent Munster, 53, and Claude Kwe, 38, were detained at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Michigan, United States, in January this year following an alleged smuggling incident. US authorities said the pair, from the Netherlands and Cameroon, were stopped by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) after they were noticed hauling 'a large black plastic case.' When questioned about the case, prosecutors said, they told officials they were carrying diagnostics and testing equipment. However, they have now been accused of 'smuggling viral pathogens on a packed commercial airplane from an outbreak in the Republic of Congo.'
Background of the Researchers
Munster, originally from the Netherlands, and Kwe, from Cambodia, are being charged with conspiracy to smuggle vials containing the mpox virus into the US and giving false statements to federal law enforcement. The US Attorney’s Office of Michigan stated that the scientists, employed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton, Montana, had arrived in Detroit from Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. The attorney's office said they travelled back from the city while it was in the midst of an mpox outbreak, which causes a rash and flu-like symptoms and caused hundreds of deaths globally in 2025.
Details of the Smuggling Incident
Munster, the former virus ecology section chief at the laboratory's internal Laboratory of Virology, and Kwe, a research fellow, were both working with 'emerging viral pathogens.' Their research focused on how the pathogens 'cross the species barrier' while working at a laboratory that 'employs the highest level of biosafety precautions for scientific research of known and potential human pathogens.' CBP officials, alongside agents from the FBI, inspected Munster and Kwe's case and found 113 vials contained in Styrofoam coolers. The Attorney General's office added that subsequent testing uncovered 17 vials containing deactivated mpox virus, one with chickenpox virus, and two with human DNA.
Allegations and Reactions
Detroit attorney general Jerome Gorgon Jr alleged the experts had smuggled the pathogens 'on a packed commercial aeroplane' from the Congo. Jennifer Runyan, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office, said the allegations involved 'dangerous and unlawful smuggling' and claimed the researchers had attempted to 'mislead our federal agents.' She stated: 'No researchers should believe their positions, credentials, or professional status place them above the law. 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.' The Daily Mirror has contacted the National Institutes of Health for comment.
