Bomb-hunt involves Aust M.P.s

Press, 8 July 1982, Page 1

Bomb-hunt involves Aust M.P.s

NZPA Sydney, Policemen have interviewed all but seven New South Wales state members of Parliament over allegations that one of them may have- been asked- to. keep cigar-box parcel bombs for posting late this year. . They were-.interviewed by the police throughout the state during the week-end, and shown a photograph of a New South Wales jail escaper who had made the allegations, the police said, •i The remaining members of Parliament are overseas but will be questioned on their return. . . Superintendent Geoffrey Hammond said yesterday that the escaper, a NewZealander who was recaptured by the Victorian police in Melbourne on June 12, ‘ after 18 months on the run, told the police he gave six of the gift-wrapped bombs to an acquaintance, asking they be posted in time for Christmas. The bombs are said to have been made from a plastic explosive, and police believe they are in a bank safety-deposit box. .They are addressed to per-

sons not all of whom are necessarily prominent. Mr Hammond said the bombs were safe unless tampered with or the wrapping removed and the cigar boxes, obtained from Sydney restaurants, opened. The escaper described his acquaintance as a man of strong political influence, and the police believed this man did not know the true identity of the escaper, who was living at various addresses on Sydney's lower North Shore and Manly areas where his assumed name was Paul Hewitt. Mr Hammond said Hewitt had been working as a bricklayer and doing odd jobs, including building a barbecue for his political acquaintance. He had escaped from prison late in 1980, while serving a long sentence for various offences. The officer in charge of the investigation had been to Melbourne to interview Hewitt, who is awaiting trial bn about five charges. , . Eventually he would be extradited, Mr Hammond said.