Foreign NIH Scientists Charged With Smuggling Monkeypox Into US, and Then Lying About It

So many Straight-Arrow Straight Shooters in the federal bureaucracy.

Two researchers with the National Institutes of Health have been charged with allegedly trying to smuggle the infectious monkeypox virus into the United States, according to the Department of Justice.

In a news release issued Tuesday, the department announced Vincent Munster and Claude Kwe with the NIH Rocky Mountain Laboratory had been charged with "conspiracy to smuggle" the virus, as well as giving false statements to federal law enforcement in January.

The department says Munster and Kwe arrived at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, with "a large black plastic case" after traveling from Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, where an outbreak of monkeypox was occurring. Monkeypox, also known as Mpox, is a viral illness that is spread through close contact, with symptoms that include fevers, headaches and a rash that looks like blisters or sores, according to the World Health Organization.

"Munster and Kwe falsely told CBP officers that the black case contained diagnostics and testing equipment," the DOJ said. "But subsequent investigation by CBP and FBI agents revealed that the case actually contained 113 vials in Styrofoam coolers."

...

Munster and Kwe were arrested and now face a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted.

The article "forgets" to mention they're both foreigners, one Dutch, the other from Cameroon.

posted by Disinformation Expert Ace at 01:15 PM

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