JULY 22, 2026
NIH researchers charged with smuggling mpox specimens as scientists describe broader federal campaign against virus research
Vincent Munster, an infectious disease researcher at the NIH's Rocky Mountain Laboratories, and Claude Kwe, a research fellow, were arrested on June 2 on charges of conspiracy to smuggle mpox specimens into the United States and lying to border agents after being stopped at the Detroit airport on January 25 returning from the Republic of Congo. The FBI's own testing confirmed the viral specimens were inactivated. The charges came amid a series of federal actions against prominent virus researchers, including an FBI raid on a former Fauci aide and a funding ban against a University of North Carolina coronavirus expert.
Federal prosecutors charged Munster and Kwe with bringing biological specimens into the country without proper documentation and making false statements to customs agents — allegations that, according to the criminal complaint, involve vials of inactivated mpox. The U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Jerome Gorgon, said in the charging announcement that the scientists "smuggled viral pathogens on a packed commercial airplane from an outbreak in the Republic of Congo." The same announcement confirmed FBI testing had verified the viruses were inactivated.
A dozen scientists interviewed by KFF Health News said the alleged violations appeared to involve paperwork rather than public safety. Daniel Jernigan, who led the CDC's National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases for years before retiring in August 2025, said that if samples are inactivated, "the risk is zero," but that proper documentation is required. Jernigan said he recalled institutional reprimands for such lapses but knew of no prior arrests. Several scientists told KFF Health News that the specimens were most likely intended for use in developing mpox diagnostic tests, consistent with what the scientists told customs agents — a claim the criminal complaint disputes.
The charges are one of several federal actions against virus researchers in recent months. In April, FBI agents raided the Maryland home of David Morens, a 78-year-old former aide to Anthony Fauci, according to Science magazine, detaining him and driving him in handcuffs to a federal courthouse. In May, HHS told Ralph Baric, a University of North Carolina coronavirus expert, that it was halting his federal funding due to what it described as a "pattern of deception"; Baric has denied wrongdoing. A May 2025 executive order suspended research on many risky viruses, and HHS halted an $82 million program funding research into emerging viruses across ten labs worldwide.