Israelis spend four long hours at police station

In an exclusive report on Saturday, the Herald revealed how an alert Internal Affairs officer questioning a strange accent of a passport applicant sparked a police sting operation in central Auckland, codenamed Operation Cloak, on March 23, resulting in two arrests.

The police picked up Eli Cara, whom they allege was watching the entrance to, and later entering, an apartment in St Paul St to which a passport was to be delivered. They also arrested a man, Uri Kelman, waiting at what was to be the next point in the passport'staxi journey in Union St.

When the police swooped on Cara and Kelman, Detective David Nimmo handled Cara and Detective Sergeant Aaron Pascoe interviewed Kelman. Both men, Israeli nationals, were taken to Auckland Central police station for interview. Here are excerpts from written depositions presented by police in the Auckland District Court:


Ground floor

Detective Nimmo: At 3.25pm we arrived at the ... station. I showed [Cara] to a ground-floor interview room. I told the defendant I appreciated his assistance and he told me: "I will help if I can". [He] was being very helpful and co-operative. He was undaunted and not at all disturbed by the fact the police were talking to him."

Cara then confirms his identity, room at the Plaza President hotel and where he lives in Australia.

Detective Nimmo: How long have you been in New Zealand?

Cara: Since yesterday.

Nimmo: Your purpose here?

Cara: Business.

Nimmo: Who are you travelling with Eli?

Cara: Nobody.

A bit later, Nimmo says: Eli, we saw you hovering around the apartment on our arrival. You were standing outside, just checking out the street. We saw you then make your way to the cafe. You wait there and when the taxi driver arrived to uplift a pack you appeared out of the blue and accompanied the taxi driver into the apartment. What are you up to?

Cara: Nothing. I was having my lunch.

Detective Nimmo asks to see Cara's telephone contacts and asks about a call to a number in the directory listed as Moses.

Nimmo: Who's Moses?

Cara: He's the guy I'm trying to help in New Zealand.

Nimmo: Help, how?

Cara: Arrange a trip/itinerary.

After a break, in which the detective confers with his colleague Pascoe, who has been interviewing Kelman upstairs, Nimmo returns to ask:

Who is Bart? Do you know a Bart?

Cara: No, who Bart, like Bart Simpson?

Nimmo: The number 021 2636 486 is Moses, it's in your phone. I called the number and a phone belonging to an Israeli upstairs started ringing.

Cara: I don't know, I never met him.

Detective Nimmo then rings the cellphone number, could hear it ringing nearby and subsequently called Detective Sergeant Pascoe to see if Kelman's cellphone had been ringing. He is told that it had.

Nimmo: Tell me why you have 021 263 6486 in your phone, Eli?

Cara: I got a call from him and I call him back.

Nimmo: He says he doesn't know you.

Cara: (Shrugs)

Nimmo: Why call you?

Cara: I don't know.

Nimmo: Big coincidence one Israeli accidentally calling another Israeli in Auckland.

Cara: He called me to help him out.

Nimmo: How would you help him?

Cara: Preparing his trip, I haven't yet. I've spoken to him a few times and told him I'd do it later.

Nimmo: But he says he's never heard of you.

Cara: (Shrugs) He knows my first name.

Nimmo: Eli, I've told him your details and he's never heard of you.

Cara: (Shrugs)

They then talk about the police and Cara both watching the apartment in St Paul St and both having entered it when the taxi driver arrived.

Nimmo: The taxi driver then left the apartment and with the package went to another inner-city location as instructed.

Cara: All right.

Nimmo: At the new location police located another man. Have you ever heard of Uri Kelman.

Cara: No.

Nimmo: As the taxi driver approached he called Mr Kelman's cellphone number.

Cara: Yeah.

Nimmo: Mr Kelman saw police and ran away.

Cara: (Pulls a face and nods)

Nimmo: Ironically, like you, Mr Kelman is also Israeli.

Cara: (Pulls a face)

Nimmo: Why would Mr Kelman want to pick up this fraudulent New Zealand passport, any idea?

Cara: I don't know about him.

Nimmo: Well, that's odd because he has telephoned you like I have already told you.

Cara: (Shrugs) I spoke to a guy called Moses.

Nimmo: Who sent you up to St Paul Street, Eli?

Cara: Nobody.

Nimmo: What was your role in trying to obtain a New Zealand passport?

Cara: (Shrugs) Don't know what you're talking about - Nothing.

Nimmo: Can't be a coincidence that the two times during package delivery involve (sic) two Israelis - who've already spoken to eachother.

Cara: I don't know nothing.

Nimmo: Why do you and your friends want a New Zealand passport for?

Cara: (Shrugs)

The detective then asks about a third man under investigation, who used a false name and was the subject of the actual NZ passport application, showing Cara a photo of that man.

Nimmo's deposition then says: "I observed Cara look at the photo and say nothing. I observed Cara look again at the photo and swallow hard. He again looked at the photo, then looked me, where he replied: 'I don't know'."

Nimmo: You do know him, you just choked when I showed you the photo. Who is he?

Cara: I don't know.

At 6. 40pm, Cara is told he is to be charged with attempting to obtain a New Zealand passport.

The photo which was shown to Cara had been supplied by Customs from footage taken at Auckland International Airport on March 3 of a man giving his name as Zev William Barkan. This matched the NZ photo in the passport application.

Meanwhile, upstairs

Detective Sergeant Pascoe is in a fifth-floor interview room with Kelman. Before arriving at the station Kelman denied any knowledge of the taxi or a parcel. But at the start of the interview he said he did know of the taxi and that he had arranged it to drop off the package, after being asked by a man named Bart, whom he had met twice.

Kelman is showed Cara's photograph from one of two Israeli passports Cara had been carrying, but Kelman denies knowing him.

An attempt is made to contact the Israeli consulate, without success.

Pascoe: Why did you walk away [as the taxi approached]?

Kelman: I had something in the back of my mind, saw a police car, thought something wrong. I had only known this person for two days.

At 4.48pm Kelman's cellphone rings, but Pascoe does not let him answer it.

Moments later Detective Nimmo calls his colleague to ask if Kelman's cellphone had just rung.

Pascoe: Do you understand your rights?

Kelman: Yes, but I would like to ring my consulate.

Pascoe: We have tried the consulate in Wellington and they are closed. The answer phone is on and the message box is full.

Kelman: Can we try the Canberra Embassy?

An attempt is made, also unsuccessful.

Pascoe: Why did you arrange for the taxi to pick up a package from St Paul St?

Kelman: Because that is what Bart asked me to do.

Pascoe: Who is Bart?

Kelman: An American guy, my height, short yellow hair, possibly dyed - lots of gel.

Pascoe: Where did you meet him?

Kelman: An Irish pub downtown.

Pascoe: Do you have his phone number?

Kelman: No, I don't.

Pascoe: Does he have your phone number?

Kelman: Yes, I gave it to him. He said he was here for the last two months.

They then discuss where Kelman and Bart had met.

Pascoe: What did he say about you arranging the taxi?

Kelman: He said he needs a favour, he said I want to meet you at 3pm at First Choice Rental Cars. He asked if I could call a taxi company and get them to get tickets from 4 St Paul St.

Pascoe: Why couldn't he do it?

Kelman: He said he was busy.

They discuss why Kelman left as the taxi arrived, and threw a cellphone into a bush.

Pascoe: What was wrong?

Kelman: I was feeling nervous about it. I thought it was stupid.

Pascoe: Why did you also throw away the cellphone?

Kelman: Because I did not want anything to do with this business.

Pascoe: What business, you are trying to say nothing bad was happening but you must have known, to react like that, you threw away your own cellphone.

Kelman: Something did not smell right. I was thinking I did not know Bart very well.

Pascoe: Another Israeli man was at the place where the taxi picked up the package. He has your phone number loaded into his phone. How do you explain that?

Kelman: I have no idea.

Pascoe: I believe you knew you were picking up a false passport and that is why you were hiding under the trees and took off when you saw police. Have you got an explanation for this?

Kelman: It's not true.

Pascoe: As you told the taxi to meet you at First Choice, why were you waiting 50 to 60m up the road?

Kelman: Because it was the only shaded place.

At 6.41pm Kelman is told he is under arrest for attempting to dishonestly obtain a New Zealand passport.

At 7.20pm the Israeli embassy in Canberra rang Detective Sergeant Pascoe's phone and Kelman and Cara spoke with its representative.