NYPD officer arrested on charges of spying for China

(Image credit: Scott Heins/Getty Images)

published 21 September 2020

A New York City police officer was arrested after allegedly spying on China's behalf for the past six years.

Baimadajie Angwang, 33, who worked as a community affairs liaison in Queens, spied on Tibetans living in the U.S. and reported back to New York's Chinese consulate, a criminal complaint unsealed Monday alleges. The Eastern District of New York federal court in Brooklyn charged Angwang with acting as an illegal foreign agent, as well as counts of wire fraud, making false statements, and obstruction.

Angwang was born in China and has Tibetan ancestry, and received asylum in the U.S. because he claimed he was persecuted for his ethnicity. But he still "maintained a relationship" with People's Republic of China officials at the consulate, including one whose department was "responsible for ... neutralizing sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of the PRC," the complaint says. After first connecting with this member of the "China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture" in 2014, Angwang "reported on the activities of ethnic Tibetans," the complaint continues. He also allegedly connected consulate officials to senior NYPD officials.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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