Each year since 1990, the Office of International Affairs has opened between 670 to 950 extradition cases based on requests from U.S. prosecutors and foreign governments, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). During the same time period, the OIA has closed between 380 to 960 cases per year.
While some cases fly under the radar, there are some that make international headlines. One of these cases resurfaced this week involving a former U.S. Marine.
This week, Australia approved an extradition request from the United States. The request pertains to former U.S. Marine Daniel Duggan, 55, who was taken into custody in 2022 after U.S. authorities alleged that he had trained Chinese military pilots how to land on aircraft carriers.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Duggan denies the allegations. He has six children and has been an Australian citizen for nearly 13 years. He was born in Boston.
Reportedly, Duggan is accused of training Chinese pilots in landing on aircraft carriers in coordination with a South African flight school dating back to the early 2010s, according to an indictment dated from 2017 and unsealed two years ago.
On Monday, Australian Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said he has determined Duggan should be extradited to the U.S. to face prosecution. He did not provide a timeline as to when this would take place.
“Duggan was given the opportunity to provide representations as to why he should not be surrendered to the United States. In arriving at my decision, I took into consideration all material in front of me,” Dreyfus said in the statement.
Duggan’s allegations “were not considered a crime in Australia,” a spokesperson for his family told the outlet in an emailed statement.
According to the Associated Press, Duggan attempted to avoid being returned to the United States since his arrest two years ago. He has been held in a maximum-security prison in New South Wales. In May, a judge in Sydney ruled that he could be extradited to the United States.
Duggan reportedly served in the Marines for 12 years before immigrating to Australia and renouncing his American citizenship.
NBC News noted that Duggan’s lawyers have argued in court that there is no evidence the Chinese pilots he trained were military, and he was no longer a U.S. citizen at the time of the alleged offenses. His arrest occurred the same week that Britain warned former military pilots to stop working for China or face persecution.
Reportedly, in the indictment unsealed in 2022, it stated that Duggan received payments totaling around 88,000 Australian dollars ($61,000) and international travel from another conspirator for what was sometimes described as “personal development training.”
If convicted of these crimes, he will face up to 60 years in prison.
“We feel abandoned by the Australian government and deeply disappointed that they have completely failed in their duty to protect an Australian family,” Duggan’s wife, Saffrine Duggan, said in a statement shared on Monday. “We are now considering our options.”
