KEY POINTS:
Anti-terror police have been accused of falling victim to a well-organised hoax designed to ambush a year-long investigation into alleged paramilitary operations around the country.
Self-styled activist Jamie Lockett - one of 17 people arrested as part of nationwide police raids on suspected weapons training camps - is
claiming incriminating text and phone messages were sent deliberately to wind up police who had been bugging his phone.
Lockett and his network of supporters are also claiming the men seen in surveillance photographs at a training camp in the Ureweras are actually members of the New Zealand Army, who were on a training exercise at the time.
Police allege Lockett attended the camp around the time the photographs were taken, but supporters say an entry in his work diary shows he was in Auckland on that date.
Several of Lockett's associates have filed affidavits with the Auckland High Court stating the 46-year-old was with them at the time he was supposedly in the Ureweras.
Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Jon White was reluctant to discuss the claims because Lockett was facing charges, but did say the arrests had been made "in the interests of public safety".
Police Association president Greg O'Connor was more direct, saying the public should withhold judgment until the full facts of the case against Lockett and the others arrested had emerged.
"This is the sort of thing you would expect them to say," O'Connor said.
National leader John Key, who had a private briefing with the Security Intelligence Service ahead of this week's dramatic police raids, has also asked the public not to draw too many conclusions until after all the evidence is presented.
However, if the claims are true, it will prove a major embarrassment for police who have been heavily criticised this week for the anti-terror raids.
Police Commissioner Howard Broad has defended the raids, saying, "The action we have taken is entirely in accordance with the law."
Part of the police case against Lockett includes extracts of text messages and telephone calls where he allegedly talks of plans to declare war on New Zealand.
The Crown described him "as someone who was an active participant in a group that had the potential to make a violent impact on New Zealand society."
In one telephone message, Lockett is accused of saying: "I am training to be a very, very vicious commando. Hey, I don't want to know any more white men. White men are going to die in this country. Anyone with a white face comes near me if they haven't got f***ing manners or call me sir, I'll f***ing kill them."
The firearms charges against Lockett relate to alleged offences in January, April and June.
However, Lockett claims police have got it wrong and the messages intercepted were part of a well-orchestrated hoax. Lockett told supporters that once he became aware his phone was being bugged, he posted it to several addresses around the country.
He has also told them he is prepared to undergo voice recognition testing to prove that several of the phone calls recorded by police weren't made by him.
Lockett - who has been in the public eye before for providing security to failed Auckland businessman Mark Lyon - was arrested just after 6am on Monday after police burst into a Manurewa address he shares with flatmate Peter Paalvast. Two cellphones and a bag of clothes were seized by police, and, later that afternoon, Lockett's van was towed from the property. He later appeared in court on firearms charges.
Then on Wednesday a search warrant was executed on another south Auckland address where Lockett has been receiving "life coaching". Lockett also carries out work there as a "private prosecutor".
The search warrant obtained by the Herald on Sunday lists a raft of military paraphernalia sought by police, most of which was bought off Trade Me by users "hunt4life" and "cyberhori".
Paalvast said he had known Lockett for four years and not once had he heard him speak of guns, paramilitary activity or terrorism. The claims were "preposterous. and should not be treated with any seriousness", Paalvast said. He believed the motivation behind the raids was the fact Lockett had prosecuted several senior police officers.
Lockett's "life coach" Shane Wenzel admitted Lockett was a strong supporter of the Maori sovereignty movement and counted activist Tame Iti, one of those also arrested and charged in the terror raids, as a friend.
Iti is currently in custody on charges of possessing a firearm and petrol bombs.
Wenzel said Lockett had had discussions with him about the extreme lengths he had gone to in trying to bamboozle police. He said once Lockett became aware police were monitoring him he set out to deceive them by giving his cellphone to friends to use.
By his own admission, Lockett has had his share of run-ins with the law. His current problems appear to date back to 2003 when police evicted him from a Newmarket apartment owned by Lyon. Lockett had been living there rent-free and without Lyon's permission after the pair had a falling out over money.
What followed was a personal campaign by Lockett against police.
Over this time he developed a sound knowledge of the law and decided to put this to use by taking more than 80 private prosecutions against every police officer who had ever crossed him.
Earlier this year Lockett met Iti at Waitangi, and, after discussions with him, decided to embrace the principles of the Maori sovereignty movement - even going as far as to obtain a Maori birth certificate.
Earlier this year, Lockett told the Herald on Sunday about attending guerilla camps in the Ureweras where he talked about men in camouflage gear and "long hikes with heavy packs". Guns or paramilitary equipment were never mentioned, but Lockett did say he had bought a flak jacket. The camps run by a group dubbed The Freedom Fighters have been described by those involved as fitness camps "there for education... there for mental heath".
Another friend of Lockett, Hemi Threeforte, described the case against Lockett as "nothing more than a smokescreen".
Key facts
* Jamie Lockett, one of those arrested as part of nationwide police raids on suspected weapons training camps, says police have been victims of a hoax.
* Affidavits filed with the High Court at Auckland state Lockett was with friends in Auckland at the time he was supposedly in the Ureweras.
* Search warrants list a raft of military paraphernalia sought by police, most of which was bought off Trade Me.
* Acting deputy commissioner Jon White rejects Lockett's claims.
Flag protest
A protester scaled a flagpole outside Auckland's central police station and pulled down the New Zealand flag during a protest yesterday to mark the police terror raids.
About 200 people gathered to voice their opposition to the police raids and the arrests of 17 people, including Maori activist Tame Iti. Protests also took place in Christchurch and Dunedin.
The Auckland rally, headed by political activist John Minto of Global Peace and Justice Auckland, began at Aotea Square before marching up Queen St and to the police station, where protesters sat in the middle of the road.
The rally was largely peaceful but tempers flared when one protester clambered up the flagpole and tore down the flag, trying to replace it with a Maori sovereignty flag.
Police tried to detain the man, and then replaced the New Zealand flag.
Another rally and march is planned for next Saturday, October 27.
