Tibetans in Queens were suspicious of a local NYPD officer long before he was charged with spying on them as an agent of the Chinese government, says one leading activist.
Baimadajie Angwang, a 33-year-old former marine, worked as a community affairs officer in the 111th Precinct, a role that masked his other job tracking the activities of the Tibetan community in Queens and elsewhere in New York City, according to federal prosecutors. Angwang was arraigned in Brooklyn federal court Monday afternoon.
But Dorjee Tseten, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, said Tibetans in the area sensed something shady about Angwang’s behavior more than a year ago.
“Some members had raised flags about the way he communicates,” Tseten said. “They found out either him or his family have had a link to the Chinese consulate. The community was aware and suspicious about this person.”
Angwang allegedly conferred with two officials from the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, an agency that seeks to neutralize opposition to Chinese policies, since at least 2014, according to his criminal complaint.
Federal prosecutors say he allegedly snitched to the Chinese consulate about the activities of Tibetan Americans in and around New York City, groomed intelligence sources and provided Chinese officials with access to NYPD brass. The Chinese government has called the allegations “pure fabrication.”
The NYPD cop accused of spying on behalf of the People’s Republic of China apparently exaggerated his military service record to his brothers in blue, The Post has learned.
Baimadajie Angwang, a suspended community affairs officer with the NYPD’s 111th Precinct in Queens, was honored by the Police Benevolent Association at a November event last year to celebrate veterans, according to a since-deleted Facebook post on the union’s page.
“The PBA honored its veterans at today’s delegates meeting with PO Baimadajie Angwang presenting the colors. PO Angwang is a Sgt. in the USMC and served 1 tour in Iraq and 2 tours in Afghanistan,” the post reads alongside photos of Angwang posing with the union brass.
The USMC confirmed in a statement that Angwang, 33, was in fact a sergeant with the Devil Dogs but said he only served one tour in Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom between July 2013 and February 2014.
There were no records of a second Afghanistan tour or a tour in Iraq, according to the USMC.
