SYDNEY, March 20 (Portal) – A former US Marine Corps pilot may have been “lured” from China to Australia by security agencies before his arrest, his lawyer said in court on Monday after an extradition hearing in Sydney.
Daniel Duggan, 54, faces extradition to the United States on charges of violating US law by training Chinese military pilots to land on aircraft carriers.
He was arrested by Australian Federal Police in a rural New South Wales town in October, shortly after returning from China, where he had lived since 2014.
That same week, Britain had warned its former defense personnel not to train People’s Liberation Army pilots at a South African flight academy where Duggan had worked.
On Monday, Duggan’s extradition proceedings were adjourned until May after his lawyers are seeking access to Australian government agency documents in his defence.
Outside the court, Duggan’s attorney Dennis Miralis said the pilot received security clearance from the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization to start a new job in aviation before returning from China, but a warrant was issued while he was on the plane home and his was security clearance was revoked.
He said such “decoy” was legal under US law, but it would be “a matter of grave importance” if Australian security authorities had granted Duggan a security clearance to “give a false sense that he would be able to.” to return to Australia”. .
“We are currently investigating whether he was lured back to Australia by the US, where the US knew he would be in a jurisdiction where he could be extradited,” he added.
ASIO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Duggan, who is being held in a maximum security prison, is an Australian citizen who renounced his US citizenship. Before moving to China in 2014, he lived in Australia for a decade and has six children in Australia.
Miralis said Duggan was concerned that political tensions between the US and China would affect his case.
In a statement released to the media, Duggan said he had denied the allegations against him.
“The suggestion that I’m some kind of spy is cheeky,” he said in the statement.
Britain’s air force chief said this month intelligence agencies in Australia and Britain exchanged information to warn pilots against working for Beijing.
Australian police are investigating a former British military pilot suspected of helping train Chinese military pilots at a flight school in South Africa, a Sydney court said on Friday.
Reporting by Kirsty Needham. Editing by Gerry Doyle
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