Author: John Andrews
Publication: New Zealand
Herald
Date: August 28, 2000
WORLD EXCLUSIVE - New
Zealand detectives have foiled a possible terrorist plot to target a nuclear
reactor in Sydney, venue for next month's Olympic Games.
Partly as a result of
a police investigation in Auckland, Australian authorities may order the
Lucas Heights reactor, on Sydney's southern outskirts, to shut down.
The plot may have been
hatched by Afghani sympathisers of Osama bin Laden, the Western world's
most wanted terrorist - a suggestion that is believed to have raised alarm
in official circles.
Weekend Herald sources
revealed that members of what appears to be a clandestine cell of Afghan
refugees in Auckland continue to maintain direct telephone links with suspected
terrorist organisations in their strife-torn homeland, including the Mujahadeen,
a fundamentalist Muslim volunteer group.
Detectives in Auckland
stumbled on the apparent reactor conspiracy during an investigation into
people-smuggling by organised crime syndicates.
They conducted a series
of house raids in March and found evidence suggesting a conspiracy to attack
Lucas Heights:
* The lounge of a Mt
Albert home was converted into a virtual command centre, complete with
conference table and maps.
* A Sydney street map
was found with the site of the 1950s era reactor and access routes to it
highlighted.
* Entries in a notebook
outlined police security tactics, standards and chains of command for the
Auckland Commonwealth Games in 1990.
* Signs of a clandestine
cell of refugees granted New Zealand residency.
Agreeing that the evidence
had sinister overtones, a senior detective told the Weekend Herald:
"It is circumstantial
and suspicious. If it was not for the Sydney games, they [Australian
authorities] would not be so tetchy. There is quite a bit of interest
there."
Copies of the seized
material had been sent to Australia.
The detective said the
fact that an Iranian refugee possessed police tactic notes could be construed
as an attempt to work out how police would respond in certain situations.
Readers could conclude
that police methods were similar throughout the West. The big question
was: why did they have those notes?
"The worry is they can
fly out, do the job and come back in," he said. "Why do this if you
are trying to get away from the nastiness? There's something funny about
them.
"The average refugees
want to make a home for themselves, get away from difficulties they confronted
in the past and relish peace and tranquillity."
The marked street map
showing Lucas Heights was in the possession of a man from the Iran-Afghanistan
region, who claimed he found it inside a National Geographic magazine he
bought at a garage sale.
The messages on the map,
seemingly in Western-style handwriting, appear to indicate the author has
some knowledge of police surveillance measures.
It is understood no arrests
have been made connected to any anti-reactor plot or anti-Western criminal
conspiracy, but investigations are continuing.
Investigators believe
that, while most refugees are probably genuine in their efforts to obtain
sanctuary, the ultimate aim of those involved in clandestine cells is to
support, finance and create mayhem in countries such as the United States.
New Zealand residency
is especially attractive to them because they are more likely to avoid
suspicion when entering target countries on New Zealand passports, said
one investigator.
Police say the cell they
uncovered consisted of about 20 mainly Afghani refugees in Auckland who,
they believe, have been familiarising themselves with the Western way of
doing things, possibly as a forerunner to foreign forays.
Delving deeper into the
cell's affairs, detectives began to suspect some newcomers were using the
relative obscurity and remoteness of New Zealand as a launching pad for
more sinister activity.
They found strong indications
that at least some had military training and were engaged in armed conflicts
before being granted New Zealand residency.
Photographs of new New
Zealand residents brandishing AK-47s point to their earlier lifestyles.
Officers believe some
refugees granted residency have fought previously in hotspots such as Afghanistan,
Iraq, Iran, Bosnia, Chechnya, Somalia and Sri Lanka.
The Auckland police investigation
has revealed another worrying aspect - the frequency of trips supposedly
near-penniless refugees have made to Southeast Asian countries such as
Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
Bin Laden, for whom the
United States Government is offering a $US5 million ($11.65 million) reward,
is a multi-millionaire Saudi extremist living under the wing of the ruling
Taleban in Afghanistan.
Accused of motivating
Muslims worldwide to commit terrorist acts, he has told his followers that
their only means to reach heaven was to attack the United States and Israel.
Department of Immigration
statistics for the past two years show about 200 Afghanis had their applications
for refugee status approved and 17 were declined.
Police revelations have
prompted official alarm on both sides of the Tasman.
New Zealand law enforcement
agents are liaising with their counterparts in Australia, the United States,
Canada and Britain while trying to keep one step ahead of potential terrorists.
The Sydney Morning Herald
reported calls in April last year for the Lucas Heights reactor to be shut
down for the Sydney Olympics, as Atlanta authorities did with a smaller
research facility there before the 1996 games.
The Herald quoted a leading
anti-reactor campaigner as saying nuclear authorities in Australia acknowledged
a potential terrorism threat when they increased security at the Lucas
Heights reactor during the 1990 Gulf War.
Melbourne's Herald Sun
newspaper reported, also in April last year, that Australia's spy agency
- the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation - was investigating
claims that bin Laden was trying to recruit members in the city.
ASIO and counter-terrorist
police were on alert following sensational allegations which emerged in
a court case in which an Iraqi national was accused of attacking a family
for refusing to join bin Laden's extremist Muslim group.
(http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=149118&thesection=news&thesubsection=general)
