Australia has approved a request to extradite former US Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan to the United States, where he will face charges that he trained Chinese military pilots, according to an Australian Broadcasting Corporation report on Wednesday.
Duggan, who was arrested in Australia in October and remains in custody, is accused of breaking US arms control laws by training Chinese military pilots to land on aircraft carriers, according to a 2017 indictment unsealed by a US court in December.
The broadcaster said the matter would go before a magistrate in January, although Duggan has avenues to appeal.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and his office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Duggan’s lawyer Dennis Miralis was not immediately available for comment. Miralis has said Duggan was an Australian citizen who renounced his US citizenship and denies breaking any law.
The 2017 indictment says “Duggan provided military training to PRC [People’s Republic of China] pilots” through a South African flight school on three occasions in 2010 and 2012, while he was a US citizen.
The violations he is accused of also include providing aviation services in China, evaluating Chinese military pilot trainees, and instruction in landing on aircraft carriers.
He faces four US charges, including conspiracy to export defense services to China, conspiracy to launder money, and violating the Arms Export Control Act.
An Australian newspaper reported Tuesday that Duggan was indicted in the U.S. on charges including conspiracy to unlawfully export defense services to China, conspiracy to launder money and violations of the arms control act.
The allegations stem from work he did with the Test Flying Academy of South Africa between 2010 and 2012, the newspaper reported.
A former Harrier “jump jet” pilot, Duggan moved to Australia in the late 2000s and set up a business offering tourist flights near Hobart called Top Gun Tasmania, the newspaper reported.
Alarabiya News