Former US navy pilot Daniel Edmund Duggan faces extradition to US after arrest in Australia below sealed warrant

A former US navy pilot and flight teacher who labored in China has been arrested in Australia and faces extradition to the US, courtroom paperwork and firm data present. .

Australian Federal Police arrested Daniel Edmund Duggan, 54, on Friday within the rural city of Orange in New South Wales, and he appeared in courtroom the identical day, in accordance with lawyer and courtroom data.

Mr Duggan was refused bail and despatched to close by Bathurst jail.

Mr. Duggan is a former US citizen and federal police are complying with US requests for his arrest earlier than formal extradition proceedings, stated a police supply, who was not approved to talk publicly. testified, instructed Reuters.

Duggan’s subsequent courtroom look can be in Sydney in November to evaluate any bail functions.

Particulars of the US arrest warrant and the costs he faces are sealed.

“A person was arrested on October 21, 2022 on the request of america for provisional arrest,” a spokesman for the federal Lawyer Normal’s Workplace stated in a written assertion to Reuters. .

“Because the matter is earlier than the courtroom, it will not be applicable to remark additional.”

The arrest got here the identical week Britain warned dozens of former navy pilots to cease working in China or face prosecution on nationwide safety grounds below the brand new legislation.

Australia can also be investigating stories that a few of its former fighter pilots have been approached to work in China.

An aviation supply instructed Reuters the FBI was on the lookout for Mr. Duggan due to his work in China.

His lawyer, Dennis Miralis of Nyman, Gibson and Miralis, stated he couldn’t remark.

Mr Duggan moved to Australia after a decade within the US navy and began a enterprise referred to as Prime Gun Tasmania, hiring former US and British navy pilots to offer vacationers with thrilling in-flight journeys. fight, firm profiles and confirmed aviation sources.

Mr Duggan has additionally flown previous navy plane at Australian air reveals, the three pilots instructed Reuters.

The Prime Gun Tasmania web site says Mr Duggan has flown a Harrier bounce jet within the US Marines and is an air fight teacher.

He moved to Beijing in 2014 and shortly after promoting Prime Gun Tasmania, utilized in Australia for the corporate’s program.

Duggan’s LinkedIn profile says he has labored in Qingdao, China since 2017 because the chief govt officer of AVIBIZ Restricted, described as “a complete aviation consulting agency centered on the trade.” China’s aviation is creating quickly and dynamically.”

Hong Kong firm data present AVIBIZ Restricted was registered there by Australian passport holder Daniel Edmund Duggan in 2017 and dissolved in 2020.

Underneath Australia’s extradition treaty with the US, the US authorities may have 60 days to make an extradition request.

The treaty permits Australian residents to be extradited.

Reuters / ABC