October 15th Solidarity - Remember the state terror raids

15th October 2007

A nationwide police swoop this morning in connnection with alleged guerrilla style training camps in the Bay of Plenty has resulted in 17 arrests for firearms charges, with the potential for more serious charges to be laid.

So far at least 12 people have appeared in court, facing charges under the Firearms Act and have been remanded in custody.

Those arrested appeared in district courts in Wellington, Rotorua, Palmerston North, Hamilton and Auckland.

Maori, environmental and political activists were targeted by the raids, which began in the early hours of this morning.

Dozens of Armed Offender Squad and secret Special Tactics Group officers were this afternoon in place around Ruatoki, about 15 kilometres south of Whakatane, along with a large number of uniformed and plain clothed police.

Sunday Star Times reporter Tony Wall, who is on the scene, says the main focus appears to be on a bach where the prominent activist Tame Iti lives and Te Ao Hou Maori health trust where he works as a social worker.

Iti, 55, appeared in Rotorua District Court facing eight charges relating to possessing firearms and molotov cocktails.

Judge James Rota asked the media and about 10 members of the public to leave while Iti and the woman's cases were dealt with.

He said he made the ruling given the uncertainty of the charges and the defendants' futures on the face of "scant information" before the court.

"The court is erring on the side of caution."

Iti was remanded in custody for a bail application to be made tomorrow at 3pm.

Mr Iti's lawyers strongly deny he has any terrorist connections.

Police this morning executed search warrants around the North Island with Police Commissioner Howard Broad saying they had moved "in the interests of public safety".

Firearms were seized and Mr Broad said the raids resulted from an investigation into suspected weapons training camps held over the past year in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

A high level secret government group based out of Prime Minister Helen Clark's office has been involved in the unprecedented operation.

The search warrants were carried out under the Firearms Act and the Terrorism Suppression Act.

Today is the first time New Zealand police have used the powers conferred on them by the Terrorism Suppression Act, which came into force in 2002.

During television coverage of the raids tonight, TV One News reported it understood there had been "a threat" to the safety of Prime Minister Helen Clark.

A spokeswoman for the prime minister said she could not comment on the report, and referred to Miss Clark's response earlier today when reporters asked if any threats had been made against her or other politicians.

Miss Clark's reply was that she did not comment on security matters but she had not noticed any increase in her own security arrangements.

Mr Broad today told media a number of people had been conducting and participating in Bay of Plenty training camps involving the use of firearms and other weapons.

"Based on the information and the activity known to have taken place, I decided it was prudent that action should be taken in the interests of public safety."

The numbers of people attending the camps had been in the "tens", he said.

The people involved had been of varying ethnicities, with a raft of different "motivations" for attending.

Training involved the use of firearms and other weapons for "military-style" activity.

Mr Broad said the activity was domestically oriented and there was no evidence of any international connection.

"We're aware that this is the first time that the Terrorism Suppression Act has been considered in terms of an operation," Mr Broad said.

"We are, therefore, proceeding with full care in talking to people and assessing information before we can determine whether there is sufficient evidence to seek the consent of the Attorney General through the Solicitor General to charge anyone under that Act."

Once the operation was over police would assess all information before them before charging anyone under the Terrorism Act.

He urged people not to jump to conclusions.

The Terrorism Act requires the police to seek the approval of the Attorney General before court proceedings are initiated.

Most who appeared in court today faced weapons charges.

This included six people in Auckland, five men and one women, who appeared in the Auckland District Court this afternoon on a mix of firearms charges, including possession of a military-style semi-automatic weapon, an automatic rifle, molotov cocktails and a rifle.

Five of the accused were remanded without plea and in custody till Friday. The names of all were suppressed till their next court appearance.

A sixth man, Jamie Beattie Lockett, 46, unemployed of Takanini, was remanded till 9.30am tomorrow, when his bail application would be heard.

Mr Lockett said he was a friend of Maori activist Tame Iti but had never transported weapons or ammunition as alleged by police. rifles, shotguns and Molotov cocktails.

The four Wellington accused were also granted name suppression.

The two men, aged 28 and 23, and two women, aged 36 and 30, faced a total of 20 charges between them when they appeared in Wellington District Court this afternoon.

The charges were all firearms-related, jointly charged with other people, many not from Wellington.

The four were remanded in custody until Friday, but the judge said an application to transfer the cases to Auckland could be heard on Wednesday afternoon.

The group had a large contingent of supporters, who filled the public gallery for their appearance.

Friends of the four accused expressed shock and disbelief, saying they were all pacifists.

A 24-year-old Hamilton woman has also appeared in the Rotorua District Court and was remanded in custody for two weeks.

Fairfax Media understands the top secret Officials Committee for Domestic and External Security Coordination met at the Beehive earlier this month to hear what was planned for today.

Known as ODESC, the group is chaired by the prime minister and makes high-level decisions on terrorism, security, intelligence and civil defence issues.

It includes the heads of the police and the Defence Force as well as other government departments and agencies.

The Sunday Star Times' Melanie Jones reports that this morning's arrests are the culmination of months of work by a specialist police anti-terror unit which has hundreds of hours of recordings from bugged conversations, video surveillance, and tapped cellphone calls and texts.

Police have video of military-style training with live ammunition in camps deep in the Urewera mountain ranges and expected to find machine guns and grenades during their raids

Campaigners from various Maori sovereignty, environmental and "peace" groups are implicated.

Police units infiltrated the training camps during months of investigation - sometimes being within metres of those firing live rounds.

Investigators believe although the groups were training together, they were each planning to hit targets related to their own interests although all the hits would be co-ordinated to cause maximum chaos and stretching police resources across the country.

Rotorua lawyer Louis Te Kani, who is acting for Mr Iti, told the Sunday Star Times that his client was woken at 4am today near his home in Ruatoki in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

"From what he's told me, he heard some one rustling outside and from there the police issued instructions for him to come out," Mr Te Kani said.

"He's cooperated with the police and nothing untoward has happened."

Prominent activist and lawyer Annette Sykes, who is representing some of the accused said this morning's raids by police were "overkill" and likened them to "the invasions last century".

"A lot of people had their homes entered this morning," she said.

One man was taken from his family about 6am and questioned by police for several hours. He and about 14 others had since been released without charge.

Ms Sykes said she could not understand why police were using the Suppression of Terrorism Act to conduct the raids.

"They've screwed the people everywhere," she said.

Ms Sykes, told Campbell Live some of the accused "have a history of activism in areas that frankly I can't comment on."

"What is concerning, is the speculation that seems to occur that you can detain people for charges that may, or may not, be brought under a piece of legislation that may, or may not, be invoked and that you should be held in custody while the police do their homework," she told Radio NZ.

"That's hardly a recipe to give confidence to our people that human rights freedoms that we've all fought for, are being looked after carefully in this situation," Ms Sykes said.