Editor defends rugby terrorist investigation

BY JOHN HARTEVELT

A Sunday newspaper editor under fire from the police minister for getting journalists to pose as terrorists to test rugby stadium security has defended his paper's investigation.

Sunday Star-Times managing editor Mitchell Murphy said Police Minister Judith Collins "grossly" overstated the paper's actions and had not checked her information with the paper before launching her public attack.

Earlier, Ms Collins had launched a stinging attack on the paper for organising groups of people dressed as terrorists to infiltrate restricted areas at Hamilton and Christchurch rugby matches last weekend. The stunt was believed to have been an effort to test security at key stadiums ahead of the Rugby World Cup in 2011.

Ms Collins said "a number" of people were involved in the operation, which had people carrying fake bombs to restricted areas.

But Mr Murphy said the minister's statement that the Sunday Star-Times organised for groups of people dressed as terrorists to infiltrate stadiums was "completely false".

But the paper had sent reporters to carry out the investigation. One had false explosives, but carried a letter outlining the investigation in case he was stopped.

"Our investigation, which is a matter of significant public interest, was well planned and carefully considered," he said.

"We sought legal advice prior to commencing our investigation and the journalists involved worked under strict protocols."

Mr Murphy said the public was at no stage put at risk and the newspaper did not break the law - which has been confirmed today by police.

"We have discussed our investigations openly with police over the past two days and stand by our offer to debrief them and the minister in order to assist with fixing flaws we have exposed in security levels," he said.

Police spokesman Jon Neilson said at this stage there did not appear to have been any offence committed by the newspaper. Police had spoken with the editor of the newspaper, however.

"Police do not approve of this sort of tactic," Mr Neilson said.

Asked if police were aware of any further stunts planned for this weekend, Mr Neilson said: "You'd have to ask them that, they're part of your stable."

The Sunday Star-Times is published by Fairfax Media, which also publishes Stuff.co.nz  and the daily newspapers The Dominion Post and The Press.

Ms Collins said: "Common sense would tell you that running around a stadium dressed as a bomber has the potential to end very badly.

"If there had been panic there was the very real possibility that people - particularly the elderly, children and those less mobile - could have been hurt.

"Police are taking this matter very seriously."

Ms Collins said security at major events was based on risk.

"The only thing people masquerading as bombers will achieve is an unnecessary increase in security at considerable cost and inconvenience to the public," she said.

"The last thing people want is the situation where people have to be body searched before attending provincial rugby matches."

STADIUM ANGER

A Hamilton City Council spokesman admitted that the bogus terrorists' actions had embarrassed the council, which owns the stadium, but pointed out that the incident had wider ramifications.

''We're angry that the reputation of the stadium has been put at risk, that potentially people's lives were put at risk by this action because who knows what could have happened if we'd had to do a stadium clear, and the fact that New Zealand's reputation is damaged internationally.''

The council had consulted the police, Waikato Rugby Union, Canterbury Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup organisers over the security breach.

As a result security at the ground was to be beefed up for tonight's home game against the Crusaders but the spokesman said Rugby World Cup security was not handled by the council and was unlikely to include ''pat downs'', metal detectors and sniffer dogs as a result of the incident.

Council events facilities manager Olly Te Ua called the actions ''totally irresponsible''.

V-Base chief executive Bryan Pearson, the head of Christchurch's AMI Stadium, said the Sunday Star-Times' action was a "stupid stunt".

He said the primary concern of stadium security was keeping alcohol out as "there is no threat from suicide bombers or people bringing explosive devices into the stadium and therefore we are not in a position where we are scanning and checking for those threats".

The stunt could have led to the matches being called off and the stadium evacuated, Pearson said.

"Evacuating the stadium when the threat that's been identified is in relation to explosive devices could lead to wide scale panic and in a panic situation anything can happen and there can be real potential for injury."

Rugby New Zealand 2011 Ltd is currently developing security measures for the World Cup in 2011, he said.

Pearson said he suspected, "their specification will different to what the current specification is as they will potentially identify additional threats that may relate to an international event of that scale."

However, former police officer and counter terrorism specialist David Haslett said New Zealand was not isolated from terrorist threats.

"I don't think the threat is consistently high here and we're certainly aware of it, but the reality is we're no different than anywhere else."

- with The Waikato Times and The Press

- © Fairfax NZ News