Air NZ employee allegedly bought missile

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A man who has been arrested after allegedly buying a restricted missile part from the United States worked on aircraft servicing Air New Zealand's domestic services.

Fiji Sun has reported that Fijian citizen William Gulshan Ali was arrested after allegedly breaching the United States' Arms Export Control Act.

The newspaper reported that Mr Ali ran a business that bought and sold aircraft parts, and was asked by a Chinese client to buy specific parts from the US for US$15,000 ($21,883).

He travelled to the US to buy the parts, and planned to travel with the parts to Hong Kong, but was arrested.

He has reportedly been detained in the US since April 11, with a court date due to be set soon.

The Sun reported that Mr Ali had worked and lived in New Zealand.

He worked for Eagle Airways - a regional airline owned by Air New Zealand which operates under the Air New Zealand Link brand.

He also worked for Fiji Airways as an aircraft engineer.

"William Ali is a former employee of Eagle Air, which operates a fleet of four Beech 1900D aircraft. His tenure was six years," an Air New Zealand spokeswoman said.

"Air New Zealand has not been contacted by any law enforcement agency regarding any allegations against Mr Ali."