US makes formal extradition request for former military pilot from Australia

The US government has formally sent an extradition request to Australia for former US Marine pilot Daniel Duggan who is accused of breaking US arms control law by training Chinese military pilots to land on aircraft carriers.

In a statement on Friday, a US government lawyer Trent Glover told a Sydney court that the US made a formal request for Duggan’s extradition, and the attorney general Mark Dreyfus has until December 25 to make a decision under a bilateral extradition treaty.

Speaking outside the court, his lawyer Dennis Miralis said Australia should oppose extradition because there was no equivalent Australian law to the charges contained in the 2017 US indictment against Duggan.

"Australia does not have an arms embargo on China, Australia has not sanctioned China, therefore the extradition should fail on the basis it does not meet the requirements of dual criminality," Miralis said.

The indictment “is both wrong at law, and the facts underpinning that indictment are rejected and materially incorrect," he said, terming the charges “political.”

An indictment, unsealed by a Washington district court a week ago, alleges that 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.

Duggan was allegedly contracted by an unnamed Chinese national to provide services to a Chinese state-owned company.

He faces four charges in the US, including conspiracy to export defense services to China, conspiracy to launder money, and violating the arms export control act, according to media reports. 

Duggan, 54, an Australian citizen, was arrested after returning from China in a rural part of New South Wales state in October by the Australian police at the behest of the US spy agency, the same week the British government issued a rare warning about China's alleged recruitment of retired British military pilots.

“Under Australian law, we do not have those charges; Australia does not have an arms embargo against China, Australia has not sanctioned China,” Miralis was quoted as saying.

“Therefore the extradition would fail on the basis it does not meet the requirements of dual criminality.”

Former US fighter pilot with China links held in Australia to fight US extradition

A former US fighter pilot arrested in Australia for alleged links with China will "vigorously" fight efforts to have him extradited to the United States, his lawyer said on Friday.

Being in service between 1989 and 2002, Duggan rose to the rank of major and served as an air combat instructor for the Marines and later performed at air shows after relocating to Australia.

In 2014, he moved to Beijing and became the managing director of AVIBIZ Limited, described as a "comprehensive aviation consultancy company" based in the port city of Qingdao in eastern China, according to his company website.

AVIBIZ Limited was registered by Australian passport holder Daniel Edmund Duggan in 2017 and dissolved in 2020, according to Hong Kong company records as reported by Reuters.

His company hired former Australian, British and German air force pilots to offer tours and flight training.

Britain and Australia have highlighted fears of China employing retired pilots to train the Chinese air force. However, Chinese officials deny that.

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