Two scientists employed at a federal biosafety laboratory in Hamilton, Montana, have been charged with smuggling monkeypox virus samples into the United States and making false statements to federal officers following their return from central Africa in January.
The Charges
Vincent Munster, who leads the Virus Ecology unit at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory, and Claude Kwe, a research fellow at the same facility, each face one count of smuggling biological materials and one count of lying to federal officials. Munster holds Dutch citizenship, while Kwe is a citizen of Cameroon. If convicted on all counts, each man could face up to five years in federal prison.
The pair made their first court appearance on June 3 before U.S. District Judge Kathleen DeSoto in Missoula. Both were released under supervision and ordered to surrender their passports. A follow-up hearing is set for June 24 in Michigan.
What Happened at the Airport
Munster and Kwe arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on January 25, returning from nine days in the Republic of Congo, where they had been studying an active Mpox outbreak strain. At the airport, federal agents pulled Kwe aside for a secondary inspection. During that process, officers noticed a large plastic case near Munster and asked him about its contents. Munster told them it held diagnostics and testing equipment.
Inspectors ultimately seized 113 vials from a styrofoam cooler. The FBI opened a formal investigation the following day. Laboratory analysis of 20 samples from the collection found that 17 contained deactivated monkeypox virus DNA, one held chickenpox DNA, and two contained human DNA. Of the positive monkeypox results, 13 were confirmed as Mpox Clade 1 — the strain currently circulating in central Africa. Officials emphasized that all samples were determined to be inactivated and non-infectious.
Court documents show Munster defended his actions, saying, “I do this all the time.” The documentation list for the materials reportedly accounted for roughly 40 to 50 items.
The Rocky Mountain Laboratory
The Rocky Mountain Laboratory is a Biosafety Level 4 facility — the highest containment classification — and one of only 15 such labs operating in the United States. Located in Hamilton in Ravalli County, the campus employs approximately 450 people and operates under the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a branch of the National Institutes of Health. BSL-4 facilities are equipped to handle the world’s most dangerous pathogens, making them subject to stringent federal transport and handling regulations.
Despite the non-infectious nature of the confiscated samples, federal authorities were unambiguous about the seriousness of the alleged conduct. Marcus L. Sykes, the FBI special agent in charge of the investigation, said that “any deliberate effort to conceal and smuggle biological materials into the United States without proper authorization is a breach of the public’s trust and could have placed the public at risk.”
What Comes Next
The June 24 hearing in Michigan will be a key procedural step as the case moves forward. The charges carry significant consequences for both defendants, whose employment status at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory had not been publicly confirmed at the time of the initial court appearance.
The case raises broader questions about biosecurity protocols governing researchers who travel internationally to study infectious disease outbreaks and then re-enter the country with field samples. Montana’s Rocky Mountain Laboratory has long been a vital part of the federal infectious disease research infrastructure, and the charges against two of its senior scientists are likely to draw scrutiny from federal oversight bodies. The outcome could have implications for how biosafety laboratories across the country manage the movement of research materials across international borders.
As Montana continues to attract federal research investment — the state has also recently seen major announcements in the manufacturing sector, such as a planned $800 million industrial campus in Great Falls — incidents involving federally funded institutions carry particular weight for the state’s relationship with Washington.
