Foreign Nationals Working at NIH Tried to Smuggle Monkey Pox into US at Metro Airport

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FOX 2 - Two researchers with the National Institutes of Health were charged Tuesday in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to smuggle monkeypox into the United States and lying to federal law enforcement.

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Vincent Munster and Claude Kwe were working for the NIH at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory and are accused of smuggling the viral pathogens into the US from The Congo at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus.

Munster, a citizen of the Netherlands, 53, is the Chief of the Virus Ecology Section, Laboratory of Virology at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton, Montana. Claude Kwe, a citizen of Cameroon, 38, is a research fellow in Munster's section.

The work of both men is focused on "emerging viral pathogens" and how those pathogens "cross the species barrier," according to the US Attorney Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.

They work at a Biosafety Level 4 laboratory, which employs the highest level of biosafety precautions for scientific research of known and potential human pathogens.

On January 25, 2026, Munster and Kwe arrived at the McNamara Terminal at DTW from Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, where an outbreak of monkeypox was occurring.

Mpox is an infectious virus that can result in painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes, fevers, and other ailments.

Munster and Kwe were inspected and interviewed by Customs and Border Protection officials upon their arrival, after being spotted traveling with a large black plastic case.

Munster and Kwe allegedly lied to CBP officers that the black case contained diagnostics and testing equipment.

But subsequent investigation by CBP and FBI agents revealed that the case actually contained 113 vials in Styrofoam coolers.

As of the date of the complaint, the FBI has tested 20 of the 113 vials.

Seventeen of them contained deactivated mpox virus, one contained the chickenpox virus, and two contained only human DNA.

"These NIH experts apparently broke our laws by smuggling viral pathogens on a packed commercial airplane from an outbreak in the Republic of Congo. Let that sink in," United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon said.

"No researchers should believe their positions, credentials, or professional status place them above the law," said Jennifer Runyan, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office.

Munster and Kwe face a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

The investigation is being conducted by the Detroit Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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