Two National Institutes of Health researchers have been charged in a federal criminal complaint with conspiracy to smuggle monkeypox into the United States and making false statements to federal authorities, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Vincent Munster, a Netherlands citizen and chief of the Virus Ecology Section at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Montana, and Claude Kwe, a Cameroon national and research fellow in Munster’s section, are accused of attempting to bring biological materials into the country after traveling from the Republic of Congo during an outbreak of monkeypox.
Federal authorities say the two arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on January 25, 2026, where Customs and Border Protection officers discovered a black case they claimed contained diagnostic equipment. Investigators allege the case instead held 113 vials in Styrofoam coolers. Of those tested, 17 contained deactivated monkeypox virus, one contained chickenpox virus, and two contained human DNA.
The case is being investigated by the FBI, Customs and Border Protection, and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. The men face up to five years in prison if convicted.
