Australia to extradite Marine vet who allegedly trained Chinese pilots by Irene Loewenson
Australia approved a U.S. request to extradite a Marine veteran who has been charged with training Chinese military pilots, according to a Australian Attorney-General statement reported Thursday by Reuters.
Australian police arrested Daniel Edmund Duggan in October on what were then undisclosed charges. A 2017 indictment unsealed on Dec. 9 charged Duggan, who served as a pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps, with training Chinese nationals to fly fighter jets beginning in 2010 or earlier.
In exchange for the training, the indictment alleges that Duggan received compensation from “a business firm based in the PRC (People’s Republic of China) that acquired military training, equipment and technical data for the PRC government and military.”
The indictment alleges that in 2010 a South African flight school employing Duggan worked with the Chinese business to acquire a decommissioned U.S. Navy jet trainer, a T-2 Buckeye, for training Chinese nationals.
Allegedly part of a conspiracy that includes a former U.S. Navy pilot, Duggan faces two counts of violating U.S. arms control laws, one count of conspiracy to launder money and one count of conspiracy.
