Russian scientist Ksenia Petrova has been arrested in the US for smuggling frog embryos and faces up to 20 years in prison, the US Department of Justice said.
According to the department, Petrova was detained by US Customs and Border Protection officers upon arrival at the Boston airport. Officers took her luggage for further inspection, during which they found a box containing frog claw embryos.
According to the indictment, during interrogation, Petrova stated that she was not sure about the need to declare biological material upon entering the country.
As noted by the television company ABC, at the court hearing, representatives of the Ministry of Justice insisted on deporting the scientist to Russia. The next hearing in Petrova's case is scheduled for May 28.
According to the US Ministry of Justice, Petrova previously worked at the Institute of Gene Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and also held the position of bioinformatics specialist at the Medical and Genetic Research Center “N. P. Bochkov“.
A charge of smuggling goods into the United States is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.