Brian McDonald
A Sydney judge ruled Friday that former U.S. Marine Corps pilot Daniel Dugan could be extradited to the United States on allegations he illegally trained Chinese airmen, leaving the attorney-general as Duggan’s last hope of remaining in Australia.
Magistrate Daniel Reiss ordered the 55-year-old Boston-born man to remain in custody awaiting extradition.
Although his lawyers said they had no legal grounds to challenge the magistrate’s ruling that Duggan was eligible for extradition, they will present arguments to Attorney General Mark Dreyfus about why the pilot should not be turned over.
“Counsel will give us sufficient time, I am sure, to set out all the issues which, under the Extradition Act, cannot be dealt with in an Australian court,” Duggan’s lawyer Bernard Collaery told reporters outside court.
Dreyfus’ office said in a statement that the government does not comment on extradition matters.
Duggan’s wife and mother of his six children, Saffrina Duggansaid the extradition hearing was “simply a matter of checking boxes.”
Warwick Ponder/Disclosure via REUTERS
“We now respectfully ask the attorney general to take another look at this case and bring my husband home,” she told a gathering of reporters and supporters outside the courthouse.
Earlier this month, Duggan’s lawyer said in a court filing that the pilot unknowingly worked with a Chinese hacker, Reuters news agency reported. reported.
The pilot spent 19 months in maximum security prison since being arrested in 2022 at his family home in New South Wales.
In a 2016 indictment from the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., unsealed in late 2022, prosecutors say Duggan conspired with others to provide training to Chinese military pilots in 2010 and 2012, and possibly at other times, without applying for an appropriate license. .
Prosecutors say Duggan received about nine payments totaling about A$88,000 ($61,000) and international travel from another conspirator for what was sometimes described as “personal development training.”
A highly regarded jet pilot, Duggan spent 12 years in the US Marine Corps, achieving the rank of major and working as a tactical flight instructor before immigrating to Australia in 2002. In January 2012, he gained Australian citizenship, opting to give up his career in the US. citizenship in the process.
The indictment says Duggan traveled to the US, China and South Africa and provided training to Chinese pilots in South Africa.
Duggan denied the allegations, saying it was a political stance by the United States that unfairly singled him out.
Duggan worked at a company called Top Gun Tasmania, which billed itself as Australia’s “leading adventure flying company”.
On the now-defunct company page, Duggan described himself as a “former U.S. Marine Corps officer of over 12 years.” He flew missions in support of Kuwait’s Operation Southern Watch and the USS Boxer, the website says.
“As a highly trained fighter pilot, he has flown harrier jets from aircraft carriers tactically around the world,” the website said.
AFP contributed to this report.
