What was ex-US Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan’s work in China?

Daniel Edmund Duggan, 54, is a former citizen of the United States. Between 1989 and 2002, he served with the U.S. Marine Corps.

Rising to the rank of major, Duggan was a pilot and a flight instructor in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was also an exchange pilot to the Spanish Navy.

After retiring from the U.S. Marine Corps, Duggan moved to Tasmania, Australia where he founded Top Gun Australia. He sold the company before moving to Beijing, China in 2014.

In 2017, Duggan registered an aviation consultancy company called AVIBIZ Limited in Qingdao, China and served as the company’s managing director. In 2020, the company dissolved.

On October 21, 2022, Australian Federal Police arrested Duggan in Orange, New South Wales, Australia following a request from the U.S. government. On the same day, he appeared in court, was denied bail and was taken to the jail in Bathurst, New South Wales.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation sought Duggan because of his work in China, an aviation source told Reuters. Represented by Dennis Miralis of Nyman, Gibson and Miralis, the U.S. Marine Corps veteran will appear in court in Sydney, New South Wales in November 2022 to consider any bail application.