FedEx Pilot Detained by Police in Southern China: Sources
September 19 2019 - 11:56AM
Dow Jones News
By John Lyons and Wenxin Fan
HONG KONG -- Chinese authorities have detained a FedEx Corp.
pilot in the southern city of Guangzhou, elevating pressure on the
express shipping giant that is already in Beijing's crosshairs amid
a U.S.-China trade war.
The pilot, a former U.S. Air Force pilot named Todd A. Hohn, was
detained a week ago while waiting for a commercial flight to his
home in Hong Kong after flying deliveries throughout Asia from the
Guangzhou airport, a FedEx regional hub, people familiar with the
matter say.
A lawyer for the Hohn family in Niceville, Fla., confirmed that
Mr. Hohn had been detained in China.
When he was detained, Mr. Hohn was carrying nonmetallic pellets
used in low-power replica air guns in a checked bag, according to
the people familiar with the matter. Chinese authorities have
alleged that Mr. Hohn was illegally transporting ammunition and
have begun a criminal investigation, according to the people.
Like many FedEx pilots working in the region, Mr. Hohn commutes
to the FedEx hub in Guangzhou from his home in Hong Kong, a city
that has been rocked by pro-democracy protests for months. Border
police have been checking baggage of travelers between Hong Kong
and the mainland as protests have turned increasingly violent.
The detention comes as FedEx faces other investigations in China
amid tense U.S.-China trade talks. Mr. Hohn was detained Sept. 12
by Chinese security officials who escorted him from a preboarding
executive lounge, interviewed him at one of their facilities and
retained his passport, cellphone and other communication devices,
the people said.
Federal Express in Memphis, Tenn., didn't immediately respond to
requests for comment.
Mr. Hohn was later moved to a hotel, and has been told he isn't
allowed to leave mainland China until the investigation concludes,
the people familiar with the matter said.
Reached briefly at his hotel room on Thursday, Mr. Hohn
identified himself to a reporter and then referred all further
questions to a family lawyer and discontinued the phone call.
According to the people familiar, he is married and a father.
Mr. Hohn was detained as he was waiting to board a flight with
Cathay Dragon, a subsidiary Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. The airline
has come under increased scrutiny by Chinese authorities after some
of its employees took part in demonstrations in Hong Kong or voiced
support online for the opposition movement.
Chinese police at Guangzhou airport said they haven't detained
any Americans since September 12. The airport Customs Office said
it had no record of cases related to ammunition that day. China's
airport immigration office declined to comment.
According to a FedEx union website, a Todd A. Hohn was part of a
group of 21 new pilots who had recently joined the company and were
being welcomed by a union membership committee on June 20,
2017.
According to a local television news report, , a Col. Todd A.
Hohn stepped down as commander of the 97th Air Mobility Wing at the
Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma in June 2017.
FedEx is already reeling from the U.S. trade dispute with China
and weaker global macroeconomic conditions. Shares in FedEx plunged
Wednesday by the most in a decade, a day after the delivery giant
cut its earnings guidance for the fiscal year citing lower revenue
projections in its Express unit, which ferries packages and cargo
by planes around the world.
In June, FedEx was forced to apologize after it misrouted some
of Huawei's packages, including two that were sent to FedEx's
global hub in Memphis instead of to China. The Wall Street Journal
reported the parcels were misrouted after FedEx changed its
internal systems to comply with the Commerce Department's new
restrictions.
Huawei publicly complained, and Chinese officials said they were
opening an investigation into FedEx. FedEx made another apology in
June after a Huawei smartphone being shipped by a journalist in the
U.K. to the U.S. was returned to its sender.
Chinese police have since opened two investigations into FedEx.
Last month, the Chinese police said they were investigating FedEx
over the discovery of a gun in a package sent from the U.S. to
China. FedEx said the incident dated back to June, and that it had
notified the authorities about the shipment at the time.
China has strict gun control laws and it is potentially a
criminal offense to possess airsoft guns, similar to BB pellet
guns, which are sometimes sold by online retailers as toys. It is
unclear that carrying airsoft pellets alone would be considered a
violation.
Earlier this month, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said it had
launched a probe after FedEX was suspected of illegally shipping a
parcel containing knives to Hong Kong. FedEx said at the time the
shipment never left its origin city and was handed over to
authorities in the proper manner.
Write to John Lyons at john.lyons@wsj.com and Wenxin Fan at
Wenxin.Fan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 19, 2019 11:41 ET (15:41 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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