Two National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers accused of transporting 113 biological samples, including mpox DNA, into the U.S. from the Republic of Congo have been indicted on federal charges, according to court records.
Vincent Munster, Ph.D., a Dutch citizen and chief of the Virus Ecology Section at NIH’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana, and Claude Kwe Yinda, Ph.D., a Cameroonian research fellow, are charged with conspiracy to smuggle merchandise into the U.S. contrary to law.
They are also charged with making false statements to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, according to the Aug. 20 indictment.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the indictment states the researchers met on Dec. 17, 2025, and discussed retrieving “100 samples consisting of mpox (formerly monkeypox) DNA and were going [to] bring the samples back to [the] United States for DNA sequencing testing.”
They then traveled to Brazzaville in January to assist with the mpox outbreak before returning to the U.S. on Jan. 25, arriving at Detroit Metropolitan Airport’s McNamara Terminal. They were carrying a large plastic black case containing 113 microcentrifuge tubes with biological samples, including the DNA isolates of mpox, prosecutors allege.
When CBP officers asked about the case, Munster said it contained “test kits,” “assays” and “diagnostic reaction reagents,” according to the indictment. Kwe told officers it contained “diagnostics.”
Those statements were false, according to prosecutors. The indictment says the men knew the samples required specific approval and documentation to be transported on a commercial flight and had to be declared when they entered the U.S.
Munster also allegedly gave officers a written description of the contents that listed testing materials rather than identifying the biological samples. He told officers that numbers marked on the 113 tubes were for “inventory” purposes, according to the indictment.
The case began with a criminal complaint filed March 17. Several complaints and arrest warrants were filed under seal before the government moved to unseal the case in June.
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