A New York Police Department officer has been arrested for allegedly acting as a spy for China.
Baimadajie Angwang, who was born in Tibet and traveled to the US on a cultural exchange visa, works for the NYPD’s 111th precinct in Queens. He also serves in the US Army Reserve and was stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey in an Airborne Civil Affairs battalion.
The 33-year-old is being held in federal detention without bail.
Magistrate Judge Roanne L. Mann read the charges and asked whether Angwang understood them. He replied: “Yes, your honor,” and did not offer any comments.
The criminal complaint stated that Angwang was supervised by handlers from the Chinese consulate in New York since 2014. He was tasked to ‘locate potential intelligence sources’ and ‘identify potential threats’ to the People’s Republic of China.
Authorities also said that Angwang was expected to give consulate officials ‘access to senior NYPD officials through invitations to official NYPD.
Angwang allegedly started devising a plan to ‘defraud the US Department of Defense and to obtain money and property from the US,’ according to the criminal complaint.
It also claims that he ‘did knowingly act in the United States as an agent of a foreign government’ and ‘without prior notification to the Attorney General of the United States, as required by law.’
According to Daily Mail, court documents show that the 33-year-old completed and electronically submitted a background investigation form on which he allegedly lied by denying he had contacts with a foreign government or consulate.
Angwang is also said to have denied that he had contacts with foreign nationals, including his family who live in China. He was charged with making false statements.
Investigators found out that Angwang’s father is a retired PLA member and a communist party member while his mother is also a member of the communist party.
According to authorities, Angwang wired $100,000 from a US bank to a PRC bank account in the name of his brother, who is serving as a reservist in the PLA.
After a month, he wired $50,000 from a different US bank account to a PRC account in the name of another person.
According to the complaint, Angwang traveled to the US on a cultural exchange visa. He then sought asylum as he ‘had allegedly been arrested and tortured in China.’
But a detention memo filed by the US Attorney’s Office said that “Angwang has traveled back to the PRC on numerous occasion since his asylum application was granted.”
The document added: “These are not the actions of an individual who fears torture or persecution at the hands of the PRC, thus showing that his U.S. citizenship was secured through false pretenses.”
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Replaced!