Jia Bei Zhu, Chinese owner of lab caught up in US bioweapons rumours, arrested for breaking health rules
- The charges are for lack of permits and mislabelled test kits and have nothing to do with conspiracy theories on China engineering biological weapons in the US
- The US CDC has said there is no sign the California lab was illegally in possession of the materials or had special agents or toxins
The Chinese owner of an unauthorised central California lab that fuelled conspiracy theories about China and biological weapons has been arrested on charges of not obtaining the proper permits to manufacture tests for Covid-19, pregnancy and HIV, and mislabelling some of the kits.
Jia Bei Zhu, 62, was arrested on Thursday after an investigation by the US Food and Drug Administration, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California. He is also charged with making false statements.
The charges deal with federal health regulations, nothing related to online conspiracy theories about China purportedly trying to engineer biological weapons in rural America.
Zhu, who is also known as Jesse Zhu, Qiang He and David He, is a citizen of China who formerly lived in Clovis, California, the office said in a press release.
Court documents allege that between December 2020 and March 2023, Zhu and others manufactured, imported, sold, and distributed hundreds of thousands of Covid-19 test kits, as well as tests for HIV, pregnancy and other conditions in the US and China.
The criminal case alleges that the two companies involved, Universal Meditech Inc. and Prestige Biotech Inc., did not obtain authorisations to manufacture and distribute the kits and mislabelled some of them.
