AP — A Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher was charged Wednesday with trying to smuggle frog embryos into the country.
Kseniia Petrova, 30, was sent to a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana after her February arrest. She continues to await a judge’s decision on whether she will be deported to Russia, where she fears she will be imprisoned or worse.
But in the case’s latest twist, federal prosecutors charged her with one count of smuggling goods into the United States.
If convicted, Petrova faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Petrova had been vacationing in France, where she stopped at a lab specializing in splicing superfine sections of frog embryos and obtained a package of samples to be used for research.
As she passed through a US Customs and Border Protection checkpoint in Boston Logan International Airport, Petrova was questioned about the samples.
Petrova told The Associated Press in an interview last month that she didn’t realize the items needed to be declared and was not trying to sneak in anything.
After an interrogation, Petrova was told her visa was being cancelled.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on the social platform X that Petrova was detained after “lying to federal officers about carrying substances into the country.” They allege messages on her phone “revealed she planned to smuggle the materials through customs without declaring them.”
Federal prosecutors said Petrova was stopped by Customs and Border Protection agents after a law enforcement canine alerted them to her checked duffle bag. Upon inspection, the frog embryos were discovered in a foam box. She initially denied carrying any biological material in her checked baggage, prosecutors said, but later acknowledged it.
Petrova’s case is being closely watched by the scientific community, with some fearing it could impact recruiting and retaining foreign scientists at U.S. universities.
[The case is also being watched by the MAGA community, with some hoping that sending Petrova to federal prison for 20 years would demonstrate that Americans want Americans, not criminal foreigner actors, working at U.S. universities. – HEADLINE HEALTH]
