Claims al Qaeda deputy visited NZ called unlikely

10.15am

Claims Osama Bin Laden's deputy visited New Zealand are being called highly unlikely.

It was revealed yesterday that, in a yet to be screened interview for Australian television, Pakistani journalist and Bin Laden's biographer Hamid Mirsaid said Ayman al-Zawahiri travelled to New Zealand and Australia in the 1990s to set up a terrorist network.

The Sunday Star-Times followed up the story today with claims the al Qaeda second in command visited New Zealand twice between 1992 and 1996 posing as a businessman wanting to export leather.

The paper quoted Mir as saying al-Zawahiri was looking at hiding in New Zealand because it was a safe place.

However, the head of police counter-terrorism said checks have failed to verify the al Qaeda deputy has ever crossed New Zealand's borders.

Assistant commissioner Jon White said more details are required before the claim can be proved.

He said if it was true, police would be very keen to find out who the terrorist was talking to.

He said he does not believe New Zealand has any active terror cells or al Qaeda links.

Australia's attorney-general Philip Ruddock also said intelligence inquiries show no evidence of al-Zawahiri's arrival under his own name or an alias.

But he says he can't rule out the possibility the terrorist entered Australia, and he is calling on anyone with information to come forward.

Mr Ruddock says the country needs to recognise that in the context of the current environment, intelligence and vigilance are vitally important.

- HERALD STAFF and Newstalk ZB