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Customs officials have seized 12 sets of night-vision goggles suspected of being stolen American military equipment sold on eBay.
If the imported AVS-9 OMNI 6 aviators' night vision imaging systems are confirmed as stolen, they are expected to be returned to the US military.
A spokeswoman for the Customs Service said yesterday that goggles had been seized in Northland, Taranaki, Auckland and Wellington.
Many are reported to have been sold on the internet for less than $5000 each, but some have been resold in New Zealand for more than three times that. Some 37 sets of the goggles were in use by New Zealand helicopter pilots when it was reported on August 28 that some of them were stolen and had been bought on eBay from an American airman.
Civil Aviation ordered helicopter operators to disclose the serial numbers on their equipment, and a spokesman for that agency said yesterday that he expected those shown to have been illicitly exported would be returned to the US military.
Staff Sergeant Leonard Allen Schenk, the American serviceman accused of selling the goggles on eBay to a New Zealander, Will Jeffery, yesterday signed a "plea and co-operation agreement" with US prosecutors. Schenk worked as a USAF technician, in Florida.
He sold stolen items over the internet, allegedly with the help of his mother.
Northland Emergency Services Trust's chairman John Bain initially bought two sets of the goggles for his pilots from Auckland entrepreneur Jeffery, who found the gear for sale on eBay.
Mr Bain told the Northern Advocate he was unaware the goggles were stolen. "Will was led to believe that the goggles were from a training school in Miami and were surplus to their requirements," he said.
- NZPA
