A British businessman facing extradition to the US for alleged espionage is feared to have fled to China after escaping house arrest in Serbia, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
John Miller and his Chinese ‘handler’ Cui Guanghai were arrested in Belgrade after an FBI sting operation in April, just hours before they were due to fly to Beijing.
The pair, accused of trying to buy weapons and sensitive military technology in the US for the Chinese military, had been under house arrest ever since as they awaited extradition to America.
But last month, while living in separate rented flats in the Serbian capital, the pair apparently removed their electronic surveillance tags and escaped house arrest at the same time.
Last night Mr Miller’s brother Alan told the MoS: ‘You would have thought they must have had some help and he will probably be in China. His son still lives there as far as I know.’
A family friend added: ‘His wife told me she didn’t think she would ever see him again.
‘The thing is that Johnny is very English. He won’t find it easy being over there.’ It is not clear when the two men fled but a Belgrade court issued an arrest warrant for them on August 15.
After their arrest in April there were fears that Chinese spies would try to mount an escape bid. Mr Cui is a suspected senior Chinese intelligence official.
British businessman John Miller is facing extradition to the US for alleged espionage is feared to have fled to China after escaping house arrest in Serbia
Miller and his Chinese ‘handler’ Cui Guanghai were arrested in Belgrade after an FBI sting operation in April
Court documents show that Mr Miller, a 63-year-old recruitment specialist from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, referred to Chinese leader Xi Jinping as ‘The Boss’ in intercepted phone calls.
The FBI said this demonstrated his ‘awareness that he was acting at the direction and control of the [Chinese] government’.
US-based Chinese national Mr Cui, 43, is an Edinburgh University graduate suspected of working for China’s military intelligence and described as ‘important’ to President Xi.
Mr Cui and Mr Miller have been pictured together in London’s Chinatown. Other images on social media show Mr Cui and his wife in Edinburgh, Dublin and London. Britain’s security services were understood to be liaising with the FBI.
Documents filed at the Eastern District Court of Wisconsin in Milwaukee allege Mr Miller tried to buy military hardware in the US for the People’s Liberation Army.
This included missile launchers, air-defence radars and Black Hornet ‘microdrones’ that can fly within feet of enemy soldiers and enter buildings to spy on troop positions.
Other equipment Mr Miller is alleged to have tried to procure included a hand-held device approved by America’s National Security Agency for the secure communication of ‘classified and sensitive national security information’.
Mr Miller and Mr Cui were arrested at Belgrade’s Hyatt Regency Hotel on April 24 having flown in from Hungary after meeting business associates – and falling into an FBI trap.
Sources say US agents waited for Mr Cui to travel to Europe before issuing the arrest order.
Mr Miller has been charged in the US with smuggling, stalking and violations of the Arms Export Control Act. If convicted, they face up to 40 years in prison.
