U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Terrorism 2006 - New Zealand

In June, the New Zealand Parliament passed the Terrorism Suppression Amendment Act 2005, which expanded criminalization of terrorist financing to include the intentional financing of non-designated organizations that engage in terrorism. New Zealand designated 68 terrorist organizations in 2006, bringing its total number of designated terrorist organizations to 488. Under the Financial Transactions Reporting Act of 1996, banks are required to report suspicious activities to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) housed in the National Police Department. The FIU had received about 4,200 Suspicious Transaction Reports and referred 616 of these to various law enforcement agencies and units for investigation. The FIU received approximately 53 Suspicious Property Reports; none were found to have connections to terrorist entities or associated individuals.

New Zealand remained active in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, where it has commanded the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Bamiyan Province since September 2003. New Zealand also participated actively in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) and took part in a U.S.-sponsored PSI tabletop exercise in October. On March 27, New Zealand and the U.S. signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) through which New Zealand joined the United States and Australia in the Regional Movement Alert List (RMAL) passport alert system, an APEC forum initiative. In the Fall, an officer from the New Zealand police was seconded to the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force (JIATF-West) in the Pacific Command Center in Hawaii. New Zealand offered assistance to Pacific Islands Forum member countries to help them submit reports pursuant to UN Security Council Resolutions 1267, 1373, and 1540. Nine Pacific Island countries responded positively to this offer.