Federal judge drops charges against Harvard scientist accused of smuggling frog embryos

A federal judge dismissed criminal charges against Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist at Harvard University accused of smuggling frog embryos into the United States, NBC News reported.

The dismissal followed a petition by federal prosecutors to drop the charges, which came after a magistrate judge allowed Petrova to seek evidence supporting her claims of vindictive prosecution, according to NBC News.

Prosecutors noted that providing evidence to counter Petrova's claims would require disclosing non-public information about U.S. Customs and Border Protection operations, which influenced their decision to drop the case, NBC News added.

Petrova's attorney expressed relief that the legal proceedings had ended and criticized the Department of Justice for pursuing what he called a highly unusual smuggling prosecution against a talented scientist, NBC News reported.