Former US Marines pilot Daniel Duggan is facing allegations of breaking US arms control laws, which he denies. He has been in an Australian maximum-security prison since his 2022 arrest after returning from working in Beijing for six years.
US authorities found correspondence with Duggan on electronic devices seized from Su Bin, who pleaded guilty in 2016 to theft of US military aircraft designs. Duggan’s extradition case will be heard in a Sydney court this month.
Duggan’s lawyer argues that the hacking case involving Su Bin is unrelated to Duggan and that he had no knowledge of any improper connections. Despite this, Duggan had been training pilots for a Chinese state aviation company, which was subsequently blacklisted by the US.
His lawyers are fighting the extradition by claiming that he became an Australian citizen before the alleged offenses took place and that he renounced his US citizenship in 2016. The US government, however, argues that he did not lose his US citizenship until 2016.