A home-made napalm bomb was detonated two weeks ago at a secret paramilitary training camp in New Zealand attended by Maori sovereignty activists, it has been revealed. Testing by dissidents of the napalm - a highly flammable petroleum gel notoriously used by American forces during the Vietnam War - appears to have been what triggered raids by elite police anti-terror squads, the culmination of a covert surveillance operation that had been going on since late last year.

More than 300 officers took part in synchronised raids at the camp and in cities across the country, arresting 17 people.

Police said they seized weapons including military-style firearms.

The most high profile arrest was that of Tame Iti, a Maori radical from the Tuhoe tribe, whose home area is the remote and thickly forested Urewera mountains of North Island where the camp was located.

Mr Iti, 55, who has a history of campaigning for full Maori independence, has appeared in court at Rotorua, charged with possession of a firearm and molotov cocktails.

Noted for his outrageous bared-buttock and spitting protests, two years ago he faced charges of firing a shotgun at the New Zealand flag.

His convictions were overturned on appeal.

Reports said that a paramilitary-style group calling itself the Freedom Fighters had been training at the camp.

Commissioner Howard Broad, the country's top policeman, refused to confirm the discovery of napalm, but said: "I am concerned at the level at which these activities were taking place.

"The briefings that I had received put me in the position where I believed that any further delay would be unconscionable."

Mr Broad also declined to comment on reports circulating parliament in Wellington that Helen Clark, the prime minister, had personally been the target of a serious and specific threat relating to activities at the training camp.

"These are military style activities that they were training for," Mr Broad said. "I believe this is domestically oriented. I don't have evidence there is an international connection to this."

Those arrested, including several people in Auckland and Wellington, ranged from Maori sovereignty campaigners to environmental protesters, and so-called peace activists.

People who had trained at the camp "have numbered in tens, and those individuals have been of varying ethnicity", Mr Broad said.

Investigators believe that disparate groups were training together with the intention of each hitting targets related to their own interests.

The attacks would have been co-ordinated to cause maximum chaos and stretch police resources.

A specialist police anti-terror unit has been monitoring their activities, gathering hundreds of hours of recordings from bugged conversations and video surveillance.

A top-secret security committee, chaired by Ms Clark, was briefed earlier this month on the operation.

Police are considering whether charges can be brought under the Terrorism Suppression Act, which has never been used since it was passed in 2002 following the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

The developments came as a profound shock to many people, who have long considered their remote nation to be a "safe haven" from terrorism.

Relations between European New Zealanders and Maori, who make up 15 per cent of the population, are generally good, but angry demonstrations have flared at times over historic grievances.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed