Two foreign nationals who were indicted in Milwaukee have escaped house arrest in Europe, according to Serbian and U.K. media.
Cui Guanghai, 43, of China, and John Miller, 63, of the United Kingdom, and a unidentified U.S. lawful permanent resident were indicted May 30 by federal grand juries in Milwaukee and Los Angeles. The men are accused of organizing the stalking and harassing of a dissenter of the People’s Republic of China and trying to organize the exportation of U.S. military technology back to China.
They were detained in late April in Belgrade, the capital city of Serbia, and extradition proceedings were launched at the U.S. government’s request, according to reports.
But after spending several weeks in detention the men were placed under house arrest with electronic monitoring and in mid-August, “the electronic monitoring system triggered an alarm,” a Serbian court told a French news agency.
“When officials went to their registered addresses, it was established that the individuals whose extradition is sought were not present. … As a result, they are no longer under monitoring and are now fugitives,” the court said in a written statement.
The court issued a new warrant for the men. Asked for comment, the Chinese foreign ministry told the French outlet that they “were not aware of the situation.”
The men were charged with interstate stalking and conspiracy to commit interstate stalking and conspiracy, smuggling, and violations of the Arms Export Control Act.
Beginning in or about November 2023, Miller and Cui obtained U.S. defense weapons and technology, including missiles, air defense radar, drones and cryptographic devices, for the purpose of export to China, according to prosecutors.
A wire transfer for weapons was made from a bank in the Los Angeles area to a Wisconsin bank account of an unidentified person that was provided to Cui for a portion of the deposit, according to the indictment.
According to prosecutors, Cui and Miller also enlisted the help of people inside the U.S. to harass and stalk a victim that was an outspoken dissenter of the Chinese government. Unbeknownst to Cui and Miller, the people inside the U.S. offering to help them were actually affiliated with and acting at the direction of the FBI.
The U.S. Department of Justice didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Sept. 12.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Foreign nationals indicted in Milwaukee escape house arrest in Serbia
Reporting by Drake Bentley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
