A New Zealand military court has convicted a soldier of attempted espionage for a foreign power, marking the country’s first-ever spying conviction.
The soldier, whose identity and intended recipient nation remain suppressed, admitted offering to pass on maps and photographs of military bases to an undercover officer posing as an agent of the foreign country.
He pleaded guilty to attempted espionage, dishonest use of a computer system, and knowingly possessing objectionable material. Investigators found he held a video of the 2019 Christchurch mosque massacre, in which 51 people were killed, as well as the shooter’s manifesto.
The court heard the soldier came under scrutiny in the aftermath of the Christchurch attack as authorities intensified monitoring of right-wing extremist networks. During surveillance, officials discovered he had indicated a desire to defect and reached out to a third party.
The undercover operation revealed he offered to supply restricted information, including telephone directories from military camps, details of vulnerabilities at Linton Military Camp, and access codes to enter the camp and the nearby Ohakea Air Base. He even suggested he could smuggle a covert device into Army Headquarters.
A search of his home uncovered military-issued ammunition alongside the extremist content.
The case is unprecedented in New Zealand’s history: while a public servant faced espionage charges in 1975 and was acquitted, this marks the first successful conviction for spying.
