Two Scientists Charged With Smuggling Deactivated Mpox Virus Into U.S.

Two scientists at a U.S. government laboratory were charged with smuggling vials of deactivated mpox virus into the country from Africa and lying to investigators during interviews at a Michigan airport, authorities said Tuesday. A criminal complaint was unsealed in federal court in Detroit against Vincent Munster, chief of the virus ecology section at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana, and Claude Kwe, a research fellow who works with him.

Munster and Kwe were stopped at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in January after returning from a flight from Paris and nine days in the Republic of Congo. Munster told investigators he was not returning with biological materials or samples, the FBI said in a court filing. Tests later showed the pair were carrying vials of deactivated mpox virus that had not been declared or authorized for import.

"Any deliberate effort to conceal and smuggle biological materials into the United States without proper authorization is a breach of the public’s trust and could have placed the public at risk," said Marcus Sykes of the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Munster and Kwe are scheduled to appear in federal court in Missoula, Montana, on Wednesday. The court filing did not state why the researchers sought to bring the deactivated virus to their laboratory, though the FBI noted both have worked extensively on mpox research.

Munster told investigators that any required documents were in his laptop and added, "but you don’t need them. I do this all the time," according to the FBI. The agency said it is reasonable to believe Munster’s statements about documentation were materially false.