The discovery of an unauthorized biolab in Las Vegas with links to China has raised concerns that there are more across the country – and that they could be used for bioterrorism.
On January 31, Las Vegas police raided a five-bedroom house in a residential neighborhood after several people who had stayed at the home, which was listed as an Airbnb rental, reportedly became ‘deathly ill.’
In the house, police found a cache of weapons, refrigerators containing vials of suspicious liquids and ‘laboratory-style equipment.’
They sent more than 1,000 samples of the liquids to the National Bioforensic Analysis Center for testing and arrested a 55-year-old Israeli citizen named Ori Solomon, who police said managed the home.
He was charged with disposing and discharging hazardous waste, as well as being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm due to the type of visa he has. Solomon’s attorneys have maintained their client’s innocence and that he was not involved with the lab.
The house had also been listed as collateral for bail by a Chinese national with suspicious ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) named Jia Bei Zhu, who was arrested in 2023 after being accused of operating a similar unauthorized biolab in Reedley, California.
The discovery of those two unauthorized labs, particularly the Reedley location – which had acquired dangerous pathogens from legitimate American suppliers for years before being detected, according to a Congressional investigation – has raised concerns among some national security experts.
Sam Howell, an associate fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told the Daily Mail that it is ‘very possible’ there are more unauthorized biolabs and that ‘the intentional release of biological agents that cause disease or death is becoming a real possibility.’
Jia Bei Zhu, a Chinese national with suspicious ties to the CCP, was arrested in 2023 for allegedly operating an unauthorized biolab in Reedley, California. A second unauthorized biolab in Las Vegas allegedly under his control was recently raided by police
The discovery of unauthorized biolabs in California and Nevada has raised concerns that there are more of them across the country. Malnourished and improperly kept mice are pictured at the Reedley biolab
The Reedley biolab was full of vials of unknown liquids in containers with labels for dangerous diseases such as COVID and Ebola. The labels were written in Chinese and English, police said
More than 1,000 samples were taken from the Las Vegas lab and were sent to the National Bioforensic Analysis Center for testing. Some of those samples are pictured
Sam Howell, an associate fellow at the Center for a New American Security, explained to the Daily Mail the national security risks revealed by the discovery of the unauthorized biolabs
‘The Reedley lab and the Vegas one just reveal some significant policy gaps,’ Howell explained.
‘Most striking is how long these facilities operated undetected… A local code enforcement officer just happened to stumble upon [the Reedley lab] by accident, and there was no federal mechanism that would have flagged it proactively.
‘Policymakers, frankly, have no idea how many of these labs are operating or where they might be operating, and that’s because we lack this really robust bio-surveillance infrastructure that we need to detect these labs.’
The national security expert also noted these kinds of unauthorized labs are likely to be state-sponsored by foreign entities because they require financial and logistical support.
And the risk of bioterrorism is particularly heightened in the context of AI tools ‘lowering barriers for bad actors,’ Howell told the Daily Mail.
Phone records showed that Zhu called the Las Vegas biolab around 400 times in just the past year, but his attorney claimed that the Chinese national was unaware of any alleged illegal activity going on at the property.
The Reedley biolab that Zhu was arrested for was a warehouse full of test mice – many of which were dead – and vials of liquid in containers with labels for various deadly diseases written in English and Chinese, police said.
The labeled diseases included malaria, COVID-19, tuberculosis, HIV, herpes and dengue fever. A refrigerator was labeled Ebola.
This warehouse in Reedley, California, housed the unauthorized biolab that Zhu was arrested for in 2023
A second unauthorized biolab was recently discovered on this Las Vegas street. It was owned by the same Chinese national with suspicious ties to the CCP who owned the Reedley biolab
Authorities swarmed the Las Vegas home on January 31 and arrested a man named Ori Solomon, an Israeli citizen who police said managed the property. A still photo from the raid is pictured
City officials also disposed of more than 5,000 gallons of biological waste present at the site over the course of three trips.
Discovery of the Reedley biolab led to a multi-year investigation that revealed Zhu’s suspicious ties to the CCP and a history of international fraudulent activity.
A report by the House Select Committee on the CCP determined that Zhu was a successful businessman with close ties to the Chinese government in the early 2000s.
At the time, he was the chairman of several state-controlled enterprises connected to the CCP’s civil-military fusion ecosystem – a government mandate to upgrade the country’s military by integrating it with civilian industries.
Zhu was also the primary shareholder of 11 Chinese cattle companies at a time when the CCP was engaged in state-managed efforts to address a dairy crisis in the country.
The Chinese national eventually moved to Canada, where he established several new businesses that he used to steal American cattle-based intellectual property, which he then transferred to China, according to Canadian investigators.
Zhu was found guilty of the intellectual property theft by Canadian authorities and issued a CA$330million fine.
In 2015, he fled to the US and entered the country under the alias David He.
Authorities found and disposed of more than 5,000 tons of biowaste in the Reedley lab. Blood and plasma in the lab are pictured
An agent clad is a hazmat suit is pictured searching the Las Vegas biolab and collecting samples for testing
He opened his first biolab in Fresno before moving it to Reedley. American authorities have not charged or convicted Zhu of running an illegal biolab, likely because many of the vials found at the Reedley location were never tested.
The Reedley code inspector who discovered the biolab told the Los Angeles Times that the CDC declined to test the suspected Ebola samples they were sent because only the refrigerator they were kept in had been labeled, but the vials themselves were not ‘directly labeled as a select agent.’
Howell said that situation indicated ‘fragmented jurisdiction and unclear lines of authority’ when it comes to biolab regulation.
Zhu was arrested on charges of manufacturing and distributing misbranded medical devices and making false statements to the Food and Drug Administration. He pleaded not guilty, and the case is ongoing.
Prosecutors said that while operating out of the Reedley biolab, he had been importing COVID tests from China disguised as pregnancy tests before repackaging and reselling them, claiming they were American-made.
The investigation later revealed that Zhu had also received unexplained payments totaling more than $1.3million through wire payments made from Chinese banks. He was given additional charges of conspiracy and wire fraud.
Zhu pleaded not guilty to those charges as well, and has remained in federal custody since his initial 2023 arrest while awaiting trial. The trial will begin later this month in Sacramento.
There is no direct evidence of the biolabs in Las Vegas or Reedley being used to research or manufacture bioweapons, and there is only circumstantial evidence tying them to the CCP.
Improperly kept shelves of test mice at the Reedley lab
Investigators of the labs in Reedley and Las Vegas found laboratory equipment. Some of that equipment in the Reedley location is pictured
The FBI also concluded that the materials found in the Las Vegas lab were primarily meant for manufacturing COVID and pregnancy test kits, as well as influenza vaccines.
But many samples had degraded due to being stored at room temperature and were thus untestable, leaving some questions unanswered.
To Howell, all the signs paint a troubling picture.
‘I have a hard time imagining a legitimate use for these labs,’ she told the Daily Mail.
‘Presumably, if [Zhu] had good intentions, he would have gone through the necessary processes to get these labs certified and presumably would have entered the United States legally.
‘I think it’s also very concerning that he was receiving millions of dollars in payments from Chinese banks via wire transfer. That’s another red flag.’
Howell added that one of her biggest concerns about Zhu’s activities was the way he was able to acquire pathogens without raising any alarms.
‘This individual, who had known connections to the Chinese Communist Party and was a wanted fugitive in Canada, was able to purchase pathogens from US suppliers,’ she said.
‘So, I think the question is, why was there never a red flag raised? Why did no one pause to think perhaps this individual shouldn’t be able to purchase these materials?’
These biohazard bags found in the Reedley lab were not labeled or certified, according to court documents. They represent improper disposal methods that posed public health risks
Individuals in hazmat suits are pictured standing outside the Las Vegas home after pulling samples out
Howell explained that beyond the threat to national security presented by the unauthorized biolabs, they also posed threats to public health and safety, because they did not have the safety protocols mandated for legal labs.
The lack of proper ventilation, waste disposal and containment systems could lead to the pathogens escaping into surrounding communities or even local water systems.
Howell also raised concerns that the US is currently unequipped to detect and crack down on unauthorized biolabs.
She said there are certain shortfalls in oversight that were exposed by the Reedley case that would be relatively easy to close and would not be controversial.
Those fixes would include creating a record of custody for pathogens sold to unregistered buyers, creating clear federal jurisdiction triggers to tighten up a currently fragmented regulatory system and building a national database of high containment labs.
There has already been legislation proposed in Congress to address those issues, Howell said.
Other solutions that may be more difficult to implement would include better environmental monitoring to detect unauthorized biolabs and increasing protections and incentives for potential whistleblowers.
The most controversial solution would be restricting access to biological materials for foreign nationals in the US.
‘Tighter restrictions could improve security,’ Howell said.
‘But [they would] risk harming legitimate, international scientific collaboration and could raise civil liberties concerns if applied too broadly – so there’s a balance here that’s genuinely difficult to grapple with.’
