A Wellington man involved in a matrimonial dispute was stalked for two weeks and his Waikanae home was entered in a bizarre surveillance operation mounted by a Petone-based security company.
Eleven Recon Professional Services staff watched the man day and night, using video cameras and night vision equipment.
Police who investigated the operation said staff operated in a fantasy world - entering his house, copying family photos and photographing the interior.
They lay in wait under a neighbour's house and sat for hours under the floor of his home recording conversations.
Recon has paid a confidential settlement to the man who was the subject of the surveillance.
Detective Paul Fantham of Porirua said the surveillance staff had operated in a "007 fantasy world".
They used police-style radio jargon and job sheets to keep elaborate notes complete with code names for their targets and themselves.
A home they were watching was called "Alcatraz", targets of their surveillance were called "Saddam", "Hannibal" and "Snoopy" - and those doing the snooping referred to one another only by numbers.
Police investigated the operation and seized Recon files after a complaint was made by the lawyer acting for the surveillance target.
Information gathered was used in Family Court proceedings.
The man's estranged wife had claimed - wrongly - that he might be abusing their children.
- NZPA
Spys in '007 fantasy world' used in marriage dispute
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