Angry farmer speaks out over Beehive bomb scare

A semi-retired farmer and journalist has outed himself as the main suspect in a bomb scare in Parliament last month.

In the latest Farmers Weekly, Wairarapa resident Alan Emerson accused police of being excessive after his office was searched in relation to the incident on May 17.

The Beehive was evacuated after a box was sent to Agriculture Minister David Carter's office. The box was full of dead cluster flies.

Mr Emerson said he had nothing to do with the stunt, even though his name and address were on the box.

"I wouldn't be stupid enough to put my name on the box, and if I did, I would get the address right," he said.

Police met Mr Emerson and his wife at the airport on May 20 on their return from Australia, where they had been since May 17.

They were questioned separately and had their fingerprints taken. Mr Emerson also gave a DNA sample.

They were served with a search warrant, justified by the address on the box and an article Mr Emerson had written on the problem of cluster flies in the rural lower North Island.

Mr Emerson said police spent 15 hours going through his small office.

"In Farmers' Weekly next Monday will be a notice from police asking anyone for any leads to come forward. So convinced were the police of my guilt that they didn't bother looking anywhere else.

"I've been a police reporter and I am a Justice of the Peace. I have never seen such an over the top reaction by police.

"I attribute that to either political sycophancy or political interference."

A spokeswoman for Mr Carter said the incident was taken out of the minister's hands from the moment the box was removed from the office.

Mr Carter said he had not spoken to media or police about Mr Emerson, nor had anyone in his office, but Mr Emerson challenged this.

"[Mr Carter] is either lying or he doesn't know what's going on in his office.

"I was told by Carter's office that they told the media my name was on [the box], not necessarily that I had sent it."