New Zealand fake bomber ‘stunt’

New Zealand Police Minister Judith Collins yesterday slammed a “stunt” in which a newspaper sent people with fake bombs to Super 14 rugby games as “unbelievably stupid”.
But The Sunday Star-Times said the minister’s accusations were “grossly overstated”, saying it was carrying out an investigation into stadium security ahead of next year’s Rugby World Cup being hosted by New Zealand.
Collins said the newspaper commissioned people masquerading as terrorists to enter stadiums in the southern city of Christchurch and the northern city of Hamilton last weekend.
“The actions are unbelievably stupid and irresponsible. This stunt had the potential to result in games being called off and stadiums evacuated,” Collins said.
“Common sense would tell you that running around a stadium dressed as a bomber has the potential to end very badly,” she said.
Any panic could have resulted in injuries, particularly to the elderly and children, she said.
Reports said the bogus terrorists entered public areas, the players’ tunnel and corporate hospitality areas in the stadiums.
Sunday Star-Times managing editor Mitchell Murphy told Fairfax Media – which owns his newspaper – that Collins had misrepresented the paper’s actions.
“We had journalists who entered the stadiums dressed like any other member of the public and they were carrying false explosives and they were just not checked,” Murphy said.
“We have a World Cup looming now in New Zealand. The world we live in now is full of terrorism threats, security levels need to be first rate.”
The paper was serving the public interest by checking levels of security in stadiums and the paper’s investigation had shown there were flaws, he said.