Disinfo – by Matt StaggsA couple of weeks ago we a had a virtual currency heist, now we’ve got Chinese biotech espionage in the middle of Iowa. Man, this world gets a little more cyberpunk with every passing day. I wonder if Google Glass comes in a mirrorshade edition?
Federal agents caught an alleged Chinese spy last week trying to smuggle highly valuable “inbred” cord seeds out of the country, prosecutors say. Mo Hailong is accused of stealing the seeds from fields in Illinois and Iowa and trying to evade FBI agents after dropping off seeds at a rented storage facility, reports the Des Moines Register. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a $5 million fine for stealing trade secrets worth up to $40 million. What’s the big deal? Inbred seeds possess certain special qualities, like resistance to droughts or pests, reports the Smithsonian.
“It’s really the foundation for Iowa agriculture, so it’s really something that we need to protect,” says an Iowa professor. The FBI started investigating Mo—who works for a Chinese conglomerate with a corn seed company—when DuPont Pioneer officials say they saw him on his knees in a newly planted field. Mo was “very nervous and his face was flushed” when confronted, a manager said. Mo allegedly toured Pioneer and Monsanto facilities under an alias and later bought seeds from both companies. And he wasn’t alone: Agents also stopped three alleged accomplices trying to leave the country with seeds, but so far only Mo has been charged.
http://disinfo.com/2013/12/chinese-spy-busted-stealing-iowa-corn-seeds/
This reminds me of Marco Polo smuggling silkworms out of China in a hollowed-out cane, but the real question is why this dumb Chink was even doing this.
Don’t we have about 4 or 5 states growing thousands of acres of these “trade secrets”? He probably could have picked up a 50 pound bag of them for about 12 bucks.
Seems like a semi false flag. Put out to the public to show how valuable GMO really is. (not) A pitiful attempt to continue brainwashing the sheeple into thinking that our gmo companies are our saviors, and must be protected by the feds.
The Chinese have been burning shipments of GMO tainted food. Why would they then send a spy here to steal GMO secrets? This is disinfo from disinfo. GMOs aren’t good enough for China and most of the world but it’s good enough for us. They need to start dropping L S D in the water to pass this BS off as truth.