A soldier with links to several far-right groups has admitted spying against New Zealand by attempting to pass on critical and classified information about New Zealand Defence Force bases to what he thought was a foreign country, but was actually an undercover officer.

Both the soldier and the country he attempted to give the information to are suppressed, but according to the charges, he tried to pass on a wealth of information obtained from the NZDF’s restricted IT system.

These included telephone directories for several military bases as well as maps, aerial photographs and a letter assessing the security vulnerabilities of Linton Military Camp in the Manawatū.

The soldier also provided his own NZDF identity card as well as access codes to Linton and Ohakea bases, and his personal username and passwords to the NZDF IT system.

Today, at Linton Military Camp, he affirmed guilty pleas that he made in March to those charges. However, due to court suppression orders, this is the first time the media have been able to report his plea.

In addition to the information the soldier attempted to pass on, he also admitted to accessing the NZDF intranet and gained access to maps and telephone directories of the Woodbourne Air Force base in Blenheim, information on the Kauri Point ammunition depot, an aerial photo of the Air Force base in Auckland, as well as its telephone directory.

A Court Martial began at the Linton Military Camp today. Photo / Jeremy Wilkinson

The soldier admitted a third charge of possession of footage of the Christchurch mosque shooting, as well as a copy of the shooter’s manifesto titled “The Great Replacement”. Both the video and the text were outlawed by the Chief Censor.

The start of today’s Court Martial has been five years in the making after the man was first arrested in 2020 following a joint investigation by the NZDF and police.

The soldier was originally facing 17 charges, including espionage, but those charges were replaced by attempted espionage, accessing a computer system for dishonest purposes and possession of an objectionable publication.

Espionage, commonly referred to as spying, is legally defined as the communication or delivery of information to another country with the intent to prejudice the security interests of New Zealand.

The only similar case to date in the country’s history occurred roughly 50 years ago when William Sutch was tried and then acquitted in a civilian court of supplying a Russian agent with information.

Undercover Operation

According to the summary of facts read out this afternoon, the man came to the attention of police following a focus on right-wing extremist groups following the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings.

The soldier was identified as a person of interest, and an undercover officer made contact with him, pretending to be an official from a foreign country.

They spoke on the phone and agreed to meet up, and the soldier was asked to provide a document outlining the information he was willing to provide, which he did in the form of a handwritten letter.

In November 2019, he met with the undercover officer and provided them with a bag containing sensitive information. They met several more times and he handed over further information, including maps, aerial photographs and phone directories for various NZDF bases around the country.

Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū, covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.