Further, while the Chinese scientists had sent disease samples back to Beijing, neither sample sent during the March 31, 2019 transfer from Winnipeg, Canada to Beijing, China, was the current coronavirus. The current location of the missing Chinese researchers is confidential pending investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. There is also no publicly available proof that the missing Chinese scientists were responsible for sending the pathogens to China.[51][52][53] In the midst of the coronavirus epidemic, a senior research associate and expert in biological warfare with the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, referring to a NATO press conference, identified suspicions of espionage as the reason behind the expulsions from the lab, but made no suggestion that coronavirus was taken from the Canadian lab or that it is the result of bioweapons defense research in China.[54]