Security system worked, says Clark

Rayed Ali

Prime Minister Helen Clark says she is satisfied with the way a pilot deported from New Zealand on national security grounds was dealt with, but she is expected to face heat in Parliament over the fact that he was here in the first place.

Rayed Mohammed Abdullah Ali was deported from New Zealand last month under provisions reserved for people deemed a threat to national security.

Helen Clark said yesterday the operation worked in a "good way".

"The system was on to it and he was able to be successfully deported."

Security experts say they are not surprised such a man turned up in New Zealand.

The Weekend Herald reported on Saturday that Ali had been admitted to the country in February on a student visa, and that the qualified pilot had been flying at Palmerston North's Manawatu Aero Club for some weeks.

While living in Phoenix, the 28-year-old trained with Hani Hanjour, who crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon.

Peter Cozens, the executive director of Victoria University's School of Government, told the Herald that terrorist organisations such as al Qaeda would regard New Zealand flying schools as soft options for pilot training for their members.

"Certainly the brains behind al Qaeda would want to test all the boundaries they possibly can to see where the weakest link is," Mr Cozens said.

"I wouldn't say that it's necessarily here, it could be elsewhere. Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted, so I would imagine that there's a very sophisticated operation going on here, on behalf of if not al Qaeda then one of its associates."

On Saturday, Immigration Minister David Cunliffe confirmed that Ali was expelled under Section 72 of the Immigration Act, which provides for the immediate expulsion without appeal of a person deemed to be a threat to national security.

Mr Cunliffe told the Herald yesterday that Ali had been monitored, then picked up and "appropriately and expeditiously removed".

"I think the system did work in this case.

"We are not alleging that he has committed a criminal act, and we have given reassurance to the public that based on advice there was no specific terrorist threat or terrorist risk associated with the gentleman while he was within New Zealand," Mr Cunliffe said.

"It's not as if he was planning anything untoward, that's not the grounds for expulsion.

"The grounds are broader than that."

Mr Cunliffe would not say what had intensified the Government's interest in Ali. Nor would he comment on whether other countries such as the United States had played a role in the investigation.

"In this type of case there are some quite definite limits on what material I am able to put in the public domain, for very good reasons," he said.

Mr Cozens said Ali had obviously been under scrutiny by New Zealand's security forces for some time, and once his usefulness expired it was deemed time to deport him.

Mr Cunliffe said Ali had gained a visa at an "offshore post" and entered through Auckland on a plane that had not left from the United States.

Advance passenger warning systems had not worked because he used a different surname to enter New Zealand.

"He used Ali, where it was in the name of Abdullah [in the security alert systems]."

Mr Cunliffe said the Immigration Service was working on improving procedures to get around problems such as the different spellings and variations in people's names.

"I hope we will have even more robust security systems than we do now."

He would not comment on speculation that Ali had been allowed into New Zealand to be monitored or detail what had happened once he was detected.

National leader Don Brash said he believed the Government had acted correctly, but declined further comment citing security concerns.

However, it is understood National intends to ask questions - either in Parliament or when the Immigration Service appears before a select committee this week - about how Ali was allowed to enter New Zealand.

National is understood to have concerns that an apparent variation of his name on his immigration papers was all that was needed to allow Ali to slip through.