Former US Marine Pilot Loses Appeal in Australia, Faces Extradition; Accused of Training Chinese Fliers

Canberra (CNA) - Former US Marine pilot Daniel Duggan, who went to work in China after retiring and is accused of illegally training Chinese military pilots, has lost his appeal in an Australian court against extradition to the United States. The 57-year-old Duggan was arrested in Orange, New South Wales, Australia, four years ago and has been held in custody since. He had just finished a nearly 10-year stint as an aviation consultant in China before returning to Australia. Duggan denies the charges brought by the US. Just days before his arrest, the UK had warned dozens of its retired military pilots against working for a South African flight training school that was training a large number of Chinese pilots, and Duggan had worked for this school 10 years ago. Outside the Australian court today, Duggan's wife, Saffrine, expressed disappointment with the verdict and called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to halt the approved extradition. 'Our Prime Minister can overturn this decision at any time,' she said. Duggan's legal team stated that they have 28 days to consider whether to appeal further. According to a US indictment filed in 2017, Duggan is accused of providing training to Chinese military pilots through a South African flight school between 2009 and 2012, involving four charges including violating US foreign arms sales bans and money laundering. Duggan's lawyers argued that there was no evidence that the Chinese pilots trained by Duggan had military status. Duggan's legal team previously argued that extradition requires the alleged conduct to be a crime in both the US and Australia, but Australia did not have a completely equivalent law at the time. The Chinese state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC), to which the trained pilots belonged, was later sanctioned by the US and identified as being linked to the Chinese military. Duggan, who is now an Australian citizen, moved to China from Australia in 2013, reportedly working as an 'aviation consultant' in Beijing. His lawyers previously stated that Duggan was prohibited from leaving China in 2014 and began to worry about his family's safety. AFP reported that Duggan came to the attention of US investigators after emailing a Chinese national named Su Bin, who was responsible for recruiting retired Western military pilots to train Chinese pilots. Su Bin was convicted in the US in 2016 for hacking into US defense contractor computer systems. (Compiled by Ji Jinling) 1150416