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Sept. 25-Oct. 1, 2020
Northeast Queens community affairs offi cer spied on
Tibetan community for the Chinese government: Feds
A PLEA FOR HELP
Teachers from Cardozo High School held a rally on Sept. 17, to call on the DOE to address their
staffing needs before the start of the school year. See story on Page 2. Photo by William Artuso
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
A community affairs officer
assigned to a Queens
police precinct found himself
in handcuffs Monday for allegedly
doubling as a secret agent
for the Chinese government
who worked to infiltrate the
local Tibetan community, federal
prosecutors announced.
By day, Baimadajie Angwang,
33, worked out of the
111th Precinct Community Affairs
Unit as a liaison between
officers and residents in the
northeastern Queens neighborhoods
they patrol — and
also served as a U.S. Army reserve
based in Fort Dix, N.J.,
where he gained “secret” level
security clearance.
But Angwang’s side gig,
according to acting U.S. Attorney
for the Eastern District
of New York Seth DuCharme,
was serving as a sleeper agent
for China’s communist government.
The criminal complaint
alleges that Angwang has
worked with two members of
the Chinese consulate in New
York since 2018 to provide information
on activities of Tibetans
living in the New York
City area.
Angwang is now charged
fraud, making false statements
and obstructing an official
proceeding.
“As alleged in this federal
with acting as a foreign agent
complaint, Baimadajie Angwang
without prior notification of
violated every oath he
the U.S. attorney general, wire
took in this country. One to
Vol. 86 No. 39 28 total pages
the United States, another to
the U.S. Army, and a third to
this Police Department,” said
Police Commissioner Dermot
Shea. “From the earliest stages
of this investigation, the
NYPD’s Intelligence and Internal
Affairs bureaus worked
closely with the FBI’s Counterintelligence
Division to make
sure this individual would be
brought to justice.”
Angwang, who resides in
Williston Park in Long Island,
came to the U.S. on a cultural
exchange visa and overstayed
a second visa, eventually becoming
a naturalized citizen
after seeking asylum in the
U.S.
In his asylum claim, the
officer alleged that he had suffered
arrest and torture at the
hands of the Chinese government.
In reality, the criminal complaint
charged that Angwang
allegedly worked with Chinese
consulate officials to report on
the activities of ethnic Tibetans
living in New York, and
to recruit Tibetans as possible
intelligence sources.
Federal prosecutors said
that Angwang had “familial
and financial ties” to the communist
Chinese government;
his father is a retired member
of the party and the People’s
Liberation Army, while his
brother currently serves as an
army reservist in China, and
his mother is a retired government
official.
Through an investigation,
federal agents learned of an
October 2018 call in which
Angwang allegedly informed
a Chinese consulate official
about the opening of a new
Tibetan community center in
Queens, and suggested that
they visit it together.
Read more on QNS.com.
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