Two Chinese nationals have been accused of smuggling a dangerous biological pathogen to the United States for research. Per Reuters, the pathogen held possibilities of being used as an agricultural terrorism weapon.
The pathogen has been identified as Fusarium graminearum. The US Department of Justice said that it was classified in scientific literature as a potential agroterrorism weapon. The fungus can cause “head blight” in crops and is responsible for large scale economic losses amounting to billions, each year.