A New York City police officer was arrested Monday (Sept. 21) on charges of acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government and spying on local Tibetans.
Baimadajie Angwang, 33, worked as a community liaison officer for the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in Queens. According to a federal criminal complaint unsealed Monday, from approximately 2018 to the present, Angwang maintained relationships with at least two officials at the Chinese Consulate in New York City, the second of whom is believed to belong to the Chinese Association for the Development and Protection of Tibetan Culture under the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China, and whom Angwang refers to as his “boss” and “big brother. Aang Wang is accused of reporting on the activities of Tibetans and others in the New York metropolitan area at the direction of Chinese officials.
Ngawang is accused of reporting on the activities of Tibetans and others in the New York metropolitan area at the direction of Chinese officials. The complaint states that his job for the Chinese government was to “identify potential sources of intelligence” and “identify potential threats to the People’s Republic of China in the New York metropolitan area,” and that he was expected to report to the consulate by invitation to an official New York City Police Department event. officials to provide access to senior NYPD officials.
The complaint states, for example, that Aung-Wang advised a second consulate officer to fight for what he described as a marginalized group within the Tibetan community, the Bukit Shugden. He also advised the officer to pay attention to a Tibetan who had participated in the election. When the New York City Police Department asked him to appear on the anti-PRC New Tang Dynasty Television (NTTV) interview program, he reported back to the officer, who warned him that if he appeared on NTTV, the Chinese government would make no distinction as to whether he was a Falun Gong practitioner or not. He did not participate in the interview.
According to court documents, Aung-Wang is currently a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, attached to a Civil Affairs Airborne Battalion at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
Because of his work in the U.S. Army, he has a “classified” security clearance, but the complaint says that when Ngong Wang filled out the relevant security clearance forms, he failed to report his contact with Chinese consulate officials or his close ties to family members in China who are associated with the PLA.
Born in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, Aung-Wang came to the United States on a cultural exchange visa and later applied for political asylum, the complaint states. He claims that he was arrested and tortured, in part because of his Tibetan identity. Aung-Wang was granted asylum and subsequently became a U.S. citizen.
New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shay, who said the NYPD’s Bureau of Intelligence and Internal Affairs worked closely with the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division in the investigation, said Aung Vang betrayed the United States, the U.S. Army and the New York City Police Department, which he was sworn to serve, as alleged in the federal complaint.
Prosecutors have asked a judge to order that Aung Vang be held without bail pending trial because he poses a substantial risk of absconding.
On Monday, during a brief court appearance in Brooklyn, Aung Vang was ordered held without bail.
He faces up to 55 years in prison on charges including illegally acting as an agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China, wire fraud, and making false statements.
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