A Chinese researcher in Michigan and her boyfriend have been charged with smuggling a biological pathogen that “can cause devastating diseases in crops” into the United States, according to federal charging documents unsealed Tuesday.

Yunqing Jian, 33, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan, and her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, 34, were charged with multiple counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, smuggling goods into the country and making false statements to investigators, the complaint says.

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Liu was entering the country at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in July when border officers found the pathogen, a fungus known as Fusarium graminearum, in his backpack, according to the complaint.

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