Posted on 07/29/2002 7:43:53 AM PDT by freeperfromnj
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A Cornell University researcher traveling to China was detained by the FBI at Syracuse's Hancock International Airport after a suspicious substance was found in the family's luggage.
Seven people, including a 4-year-old girl, were treated at University Hospital after coming into contact with the unknown substance. The girl was held overnight for observation and was expected to be released Monday, said hospital spokeswoman Doretta Royer.
Doctors said none of the group displayed any symptoms and they were treated as a precaution, Royer said.
"At this point, we don't know what it is," Royer said. "It's an unidentified substance."
Yin Qing Qiang, 38, will be charged with theft of government property, said Phil Looney, the FBI's supervisory senior resident agent in Syracuse. It is possible the U.S. Attorney's office could bring additional charges once the substance is identified, he said.
He was scheduled to be arraigned before a federal magistrate later Monday, Looney said.
Syracuse police charged the mother, Zheng Quihong, 36, with endangering the welfare of a child. The couple were being held at the Onondaga County Justice Center.
The man, carrying a Chinese passport, attempted to pass through a security checkpoint with his wife and daughter Sunday afternoon when security workers conducting a random search of the family's luggage found glass vials containing an unknown substance, Looney said.
"We seized everything to be on the cautious side," he said. "We're treating this very suspiciously because we can't take anybody's word that these are not hazardous materials."
Looney said law enforcement officials do not believe the vials are linked to a terrorism plot.
Cornell spokeswoman Linda Grace-Kobas said university officials were still trying to determine in which department Yin was employed and what research he was working on.
The seven people treated for possible exposure included the family traveling with the substance, an ambulance driver and three police officers, Royer said.
The group was decontaminated in the hospital parking lot by the Syracuse Fire Department, which set up special showers outside the emergency room entrance.
The state Health Department's Wadsworth Laboratory in Albany will examine the substance to determine its nature, said Dr. Lloyd Novick, Onondaga County's health commissioner.
As in Perry Mason, the "plot" thickens ...
Doctors said none of the group displayed any symptoms and they were treated as a precaution, Royer said.
Hmmmm, they were treated as a precaution for symptoms which no one displayed from a substance which no one knows what it is. Now let's see, they were treated.......
What???? How long does it take to track down an employee?
Still, I wonder what the federal property he is charged with stealing consisted of?
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| Qingqiang Yin Animal Science |
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| Created on Wednesday, August 08, 2001 11:23:55 AM EDT Modified on Monday, July 15, 2002 4:09:25 PM EDT |
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Well, it took me two minutes, and another 3-4 to format my post.
FBI halts Cornell scientist at Hancock
Police find vials reported to contain a frozen bacterium; theft charge expected.
July 29, 2002
By Mark Weiner - Staff writer
The FBI detained a Cornell University researcher traveling to China after security at Syracuse's airport found a suspicious substance in his family's luggage Sunday, law enforcement officials said.
The researcher will likely be charged today with theft of government property from a Cornell research project supported by a federal research grant, the officials said.
The man, carrying a Chinese passport, attempted to pass through a security checkpoint with his wife and daughter at Hancock International Airport, said Phil Looney, the FBI's supervisory senior resident agent in Syracuse.
Security workers conducting a random search of the family's luggage found glass vials containing an unknown substance inside the family's luggage Sunday afternoon, Looney said.
"We seized everything to be on the cautious side," he said. "We're treating this very suspiciously because we can't take anybody's word that these are not hazardous materials."
Looney said law enforcement officials do not believe the vials are linked to a terrorism plot.
"Based on the information we developed with the Syracuse Police Department, the individual is going to be charged with theft of government property," Looney said.
The FBI would not identify the man Sunday night.
Yin Qing, 38, was in custody as a federal prisoner Sunday night at the Onondaga County Justice Center jail, a jail deputy said. A woman brought in with him, Qiuhong Zheng, 36, was in jail on a charge of endangering the welfare of a child, the deputy said.
A source familiar with the investigation said the vials contained a frozen bacterium of an unknown type used in Cornell's research.
Seven people who may have come into contact with the vials were taken to University Hospital as a precaution, officials said. The seven included the family traveling with the substance.
The four other adults - an ambulance driver and three police officers - were examined and released, said Doretta Royer, a spokeswoman for University Hospital.
Decontaminated in hospital parking lot
All seven had to be decontaminated by the Syracuse Fire Department, which set up special showers in the parking lot of the hospital's emergency room.
The 4-year-old daughter of the Cornell researcher was admitted in good condition Sunday night for observation, Royer said.
"Everybody is just being on the cautious side," said Dr. Lloyd Novick, Onondaga County's health commissioner. "The material is being sent to the lab."
The state Health Department's Wadsworth Laboratory in Albany will examine the substance today to determine its nature. The Syracuse Fire Department's hazardous materials team triple-bagged the substance and placed it in steel containers for the trip to Albany.
Novick said health officials do not believe anyone at the airport was exposed to the substance.
"If there was exposure, it was an exceedingly small number of people," he said.
The U.S. Customs Service, federal Immigration and Naturalization Service and Syracuse Police Department joined in the investigation Sunday.
Syracuse police and Syracuse Aviation Commissioner Charles Everett declined to comment, referring questions to the FBI.
Unrelated evacuation clears Northern Concourse
Everett said the FBI investigation is not related to an evacuation of Hancock Airport's Northern Concourse shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday, about the time security detained the researcher and his wife.
Hundreds of people had to wait outside the security checkpoint after smoke was detected near Gate 25 in the Delta Airlines waiting area.
Everett said fire officials believe a motor or belt in an air conditioning system overheated and produced the smoke. Syracuse firefighters were called to the scene to clear smoke from the concourse.
Cornell University's campus police were informed of the airport incident, but officials had few details Sunday night.
"We got an alert from campus police and that at least one researcher was being detained," said Linda Grace-Kobas, Cornell's chief spokeswoman. "We don't, at this point, know what the substance is. But we don't have any indication it involves any dangerous substance."
Grace-Kobas said none of the government research conducted at Cornell is considered classified or top-secret.
"Cornell is one of the top 10 research institutions in the country, so we have millions of dollars of government research projects going on spread throughout the university," she said.
Cornell houses the New York State Diagnostic Laboratory in its School of Veterinary Medicine. The laboratory is designated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to test for disease threats such as West Nile virus and the type of anthrax found in animals. Staff writer Mike McAndrew contributed to this report
At any rate, the locals sure out-reported AP hands down.
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