N.Z. ‘bomber' arrested

Press, 18 December 1986, Page 8

N.Z. ‘bomber' arrested

NZPA-AP Lusaka Police say they have arrested a New Zealander in the process of assembling a bomb and have accused him of being a South African agent responsible for bombings during last week’s food riots in northern Zambia. Police said the unidentified New Zealander then named a Briton and an Australian as associates and all three “have confessed to having been recruited by the South African Government,” A police public relations officer, Lawrence Munalisa, who announced the arrests, did not identify the men by name.

Munalisa did not say

when the three men would appear in court or what . specific charges would be brought against them, but espionage and sabotage are capital offences in Zambia. Officials at the British and Australian high commissions in Lusaka said they were investigating the case. New Zealand’s sole diplomatic mission in Africa is in Harare, Zimbabwe, and officials there said they were trying to get information on the arrests.

The Australian consul, Mr Neville Smith, said the men were being held in separate cells at a suburban Lusaka police station. He said the Australian, aged 24, was from Hobart and asked not to be identified.