Overview
- The Justice Department filed criminal charges on June 2, 2026, accusing Vincent Munster and Claude Kwe of conspiracy to smuggle mpox and making false statements and saying each faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
- Customs officers stopped the researchers after their Jan. 25, 2026, arrival from Brazzaville and found a black case holding 113 vials packed in Styrofoam coolers.
- The FBI tested 20 of the vials and reported that 17 contained deactivated monkeypox (mpox), one contained chickenpox virus, and two contained human DNA.
- Both men are scientists at NIH’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories, a Biosafety Level 4 facility, with Munster serving as chief of the Virus Ecology Section and Kwe as a research fellow.
- The FBI’s Detroit Field Office is leading the active probe with CBP and HHS OIG involvement, and NIH says it has secured lab areas, conducted audits, taken personnel actions, and is cooperating with investigators while regulators review import and biosafety practices.