Former US Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan will be extradited from Australia to the US on charges of illegally training Chinese pilots.
Australian Attorney General Mark Dreyfus approved the extradition on Monday, ending a nearly two-year effort to avoid extradition for Duggan, a 55-year-old Boston-born American who served in the Marines for 12 years before settling in Australia and defecting. He has been in a maximum security prison since his arrest in 2022 at his family home in the state of New South Wales, an American citizen. He is the father of six children.
Dreyfus confirmed in a statement Monday that he had approved the extradition but did not say when Duggan would be extradited to the U.S. “Duggan was given an opportunity to represent why he should not be extradited to the United States. In reaching my decision, I considered all the material before me,” Dreyfus said in a statement.
In May, a Sydney judge ruled that Duggan could be extradited to the US, leaving an appeal to the attorney general as Duggan’s last hope of staying in Australia.
In a 2016 indictment from U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, unsealed in late 2022, prosecutors said Duggan conspired with others to provide training to Chinese military pilots in 2010 and 2012, and possibly at other times, without applying for the proper licenses.
Prosecutors said he received payments totaling about 88,000 Australian dollars ($61,000) and international travel from another conspirator in what was sometimes described as “personal development training”. If convicted, Duggan faces up to 60 years in prison.
He denies the allegations. “We feel abandoned by the Australian government and are deeply disappointed that it has completely failed in its duty to protect Australian families,” his wife, Safryn Duggan, said in a statement on Monday. “We are now considering our options.”
Why should you buy our membership?
You want to be the smartest in the room.
You want access to our award-winning journalism.
You don’t want to be confused and misinformed.
Choose your subscription package