No bail for Chinese researcher found with cancer study items in sock
- Boston judge rules Zheng Zaosong, accused of trying to smuggle specimens to China, poses flight risk
- Doctoral student faces charges of ‘making false statements’ to US agents
A Chinese medical student accused of trying to smuggle cancer research material out of the US has been held without bail by a judge who ruled he was a flight risk.
Zheng Zaosong, 29, who last year earned a visa sponsored by Harvard University to study in the US, appeared on Monday in the US District Court in Boston.
Magistrate Judge David Hennessy ruled that evidence suggested Zheng had tried to smuggle vials of research specimens in a sock in his suitcase bound for China and granted the prosecution’s request to hold him without bail.
Authorities allege Zheng stole the materials from his lab at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre. He was arrested on December 10 at Boston’s Logan Airport on a charge of making false statements.
According to court documents, Zheng told authorities that some of the vials contained a colleague’s work he had replicated without the authorisation or knowledge of the lab. An affidavit from the FBI, included in court documents, said Zheng was possibly acting on behalf of the Chinese government.