A Tibetan U.S. police officer in New York City accused of providing intelligence to China was released from federal prison Wednesday (Feb. 17) on $2 million bail after contracting a new coronavirus.
Baimadajie Angwang, 33, was arrested four months ago and was being held at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn before being released on bail.
Last week, Angwang tested positive for the new coronavirus. A judge granted him bail in light of the increasing number of new coronavirus cases in Brooklyn’s federal prisons.
Onwong is a community affairs officer with the New York City Police Department’s 111th Precinct in Queens, served in the Marine Corps and is currently a member of the U.S. Army Reserves at Fort Dix.
According to the criminal complaint, Ngawang, 33, is from Tibet and is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He describes himself as an “asset” of the People’s Republic of China. Before his arrest, the FBI said, Ngawang had been in “frequent communication” with an unidentified Chinese consular official, whom he referred to as his “boss.
According to the complaint, Ngawang was “instructed and controlled” by Chinese government officials at the Chinese consulate in New York to report on Tibetan activities, assess potential sources of Tibetan intelligence, and use his position as an officer in the police department to help bring consulate officials into contact with senior NYPD officials.
Ngawang was not charged with espionage, but with acting as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the United States. He is also charged with wire fraud, misrepresentation and obstruction. The New York Daily News (Newsday) quoted prosecutors as saying that Aung-Wang faces decades in prison if convicted of the charges.
Federal prosecutor Michael Katy told the newspaper that Onwong’s actions were morally “repugnant to spy on his neighbors …….” His attorney, John Kamen, said that Ngawang was only providing public information in order to obtain more lenient Chinese visas for himself and other Tibetans.
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