Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-04-08
Both Yu and Nielsen are former employees of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. (File photo/CFP) |
A former
Canadian Food Inspection Agency researcher is believed to be on the run after
her co-conspirator was arrested for trying to transport a highly contagious
bacteria out of the country to China.
Wei Ling Yu
is now the subject of a Canada-wide warrant after fellow researcher,
67-year-old Klaus Nielsen, was arrested last October on his way the country's
Ottawa airport in possession of 17 vials of pathogen — live brucella bacteria
that can infect livestock and humans. If inhaled, it can infect people with
flu-like symptoms and was once regarded as an ideal biological weapon used by
US authorities after World War II to kill the livestock and sicken the
populations of enemy countries.
According
to a statement from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police last week, Nielsen and Yu
are accused of working to commercialize intellectual property belonging to the
CFIA and sell the bacteria abroad.
Nielsen had
been a seasoned researcher of the bacteria and was part of a team scientists
that won a CFIA Technology Transfer Award in 2003 for developing a 15-second
test for detecting brucellosis in cattle, the disease caused by brucella.
He is set
to appear in a Canadian court on April 17, while Yu, a resident of Ottawa, is
believed to be in hiding in China. Local police declined to confirm if
extradition would be an option if Yu is apprehended overseas.
Authorities
had been investigating Nielsen and Yu since March 2011 after receiving a tip
from the CFIA. Both are charged with breach of trust by a public officer, with
Nielsen also facing charges under Canada's Export and Import Permits Act,
Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act and Human Pathogens and Toxins Act.
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