Camouflaged 'ghosts' the police elite

By SCOTT MacLEOD

The police snipers who staked out the house where Kahurautete Durie was held for ransom are part of an elite team that is shrouded in secrecy.

Like black or green-camouflaged ghosts, members of the special tactics group try to move in total secrecy, but are sometimes seen driving to the nation's hottest crime spots in their darkened four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Police will say little about the group, but the Herald yesterday spoke to three people with inside knowledge of the way it works.

The group, they said, started life in 1977 as the police anti-terrorist squad. It was under this name that its members shot dead David Gray at Aramoana in 1990, after he killed 12 people.

In 1991, the squad changed its name to the special tactics group to reflect a wider range of tasks. Its new brief was to deal with terrorists, handle gunmen who were too dangerous for the armed offenders squad, protect VIPs on state visits and spy on criminals.

Another said the group was especially good at spying in rural areas, living off the land, and hunting drug growers in dense bush.

The 36 group members are drawn from the armed offenders squad. They are split evenly between three squads, based in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Each squad has a seven-man assault team, four snipers and a commander (an inspector).

Their central commander is Superintendent Neville Matthews, but they can be scrambled only by the Commissioner of Police. Members get no extra pay, apart from a small allowance, and are on call at all times. When scrambled, the three squads work together.

One former member said the armed offenders squad was trained to cordon or contain dangerous criminals, whereas the special tactics group was trained to confront them.

The public is rarely told when the group is activated, unless it is too obvious to deny.

For instance, its role during the kidnapping of a 6-year-old Auckland boy two weeks ago has been kept secret, but one source yesterday said it was involved.

The group was always scrambled for hostage and ransom rescues, he said.

The group also hunted Terence Thompson for the killing of Hastings policeman Glenn McKibbin in 1996, took part in the Operation Ragwort drug bust in 1997, and tracked three escaped prisoners in the Coromandel Peninsula in 1998.

A Herald source said Auckland members of the group rescued Kahu after staking out a Taumarunui house for up to three days.

The group has also shielded the Queen and Nelson Mandela.

Full coverage: Baby Kahu kidnapping


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