Las Vegas police have uncovered an unauthorized biolab with connections to China, prompting security experts to warn that similar clandestine facilities could be operating across the United States, potentially for bioterrorism purposes. The discovery was reported exclusively by the Daily Mail, citing concerns from national security analysts.
Raid on Residential Airbnb Reveals Hazardous Setup
On January 31, law enforcement raided a five-bedroom home listed as an Airbnb rental in a residential neighborhood after several former occupants reportedly fell "deathly ill." Inside, officers discovered weapons, refrigerators stocked with vials of suspicious liquids, and laboratory-style equipment. More than 1,000 samples were sent for testing at the National Bioforensic Analysis Center.
Israeli citizen Ori Solomon, 55, identified as the house manager, was arrested and charged with disposing of hazardous waste and illegally possessing a firearm due to his visa status. Solomon's attorneys maintain his innocence, claiming he had no involvement with the lab's operations.
Links to Chinese National and Previous Illegal Lab
The property had previously been used as collateral for bail by Chinese national Jia Bei Zhu, who has ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Zhu was arrested in 2023 for operating a similar unauthorized biolab in Reedley, California. Phone records indicate Zhu called the Las Vegas facility approximately 400 times over the past year, though his attorney asserts he was unaware of any illicit activities.
The Reedley lab contained numerous dead test mice and vials labeled with deadly diseases such as malaria, COVID-19, tuberculosis, HIV, herpes, and dengue fever, with one refrigerator marked for Ebola. A Congressional investigation found that dangerous pathogens from legitimate American suppliers had been collected there for years without detection.
Expert Warns of Undetected Facilities
Sam Howell, an associate fellow at the Center for a New American Security, expressed alarm over the prolonged undetected operation of these labs. "Most striking is how long these facilities operated undetected," Howell told the Daily Mail. "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."
Zhu's Background and Legal Troubles
According to a House Select Committee report, Zhu was a successful businessman with close ties to the Chinese government in the early 2000s, serving as primary shareholder for 11 Chinese cattle companies during a dairy crisis. Canadian investigators allege he later moved to Canada, establishing businesses to steal American cattle-based intellectual property for China.
Zhu was convicted of intellectual property theft in Canada and fined $330 million, but fled to the U.S. in 2015 under the alias David He. He opened his first biolab in Fresno before relocating it to Reedley. U.S. authorities have not charged him with operating an illegal biolab, as many vials from Reedley were never tested. Instead, he faces charges of manufacturing misbranded medical devices, making false statements to the FDA, conspiracy, and wire fraud, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
Zhu remains in federal custody awaiting a trial scheduled to begin later this month in Sacramento, with the case highlighting ongoing concerns about unauthorized biolabs and national security vulnerabilities.
