James Robins
Yahoo News
August 1, 2013
Prime Minister John Key today revealed that al-Qaeda terrorists are living and operating in New Zealand.
The information comes as parliament is due to debate changes to the law which will allow the Government Communications Security Bureau to spy on New Zealanders.
Key gave an interview to radio station MoreFM this morning.
“I gotta tell you,” Key said, “in the real world, in New Zealand, there are people who have been training for al-Qaeda camps, who operate out of New Zealand, who are in contact with people overseas, who have gone off to Yemen and other countries to train.”
“I’m sorry but it’s the real world. It’s the reality of what we’re dealing with.”
The Prime Minister has previously refused to be drawn on specific issues of a national security nature.
Mark Taylor, a New Zealander, was arrested trying to gain access to an al-Qaeda camp in Pakistan in 2010. He was one of 23 people based in Australia of “security interest”, identified in a cable released by Wikileaks in 2011.