Christchurch mosque shooting: Australian Federal Police offer help as NSW coroner’s office involved
New Zealand police is beefing up its presence in Christchurch as Australia’s forensic and counter-terrorism experts are also set to join the operation. British spy agency MI5 is also investigating.
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New Zealand police have deployed another 120 officers to Christchurch from other parts of the country to help in the investigation into the Australian gunman who killed 49 Muslim worshippers and injured another 40 others.
The team involves extra security deployed to mosques and other street patrol duties but also forensic investigators.
It comes as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed forensic pathologists believed to be attached to the NSW coroner’s office were also set to fly to New Zealand to assist.
The Australian Federal Police has also now offered added resources should they be needed.
“The AFP has reached out to its New Zealand counterparts with offers of assistance and will do everything possible to support them, for as long as it’s required,” a spokeswoman said last night.
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“The NSW joint Counter-Terrorism Team has begun an Australian-based investigation to assist New Zealand Police. With an investigation under way, it is not appropriate to provide further comment.”
The British spy agency MI5 has also confirmed it was investigating whether there were any links between the alleged Australian gunman Brenton Tarrant and British right wing extremists.
The move followed several references to Britain in his so-called manifesto he produced prior to the attack including a call he made for the assassination of London Mayor Sadiq Khan and also a reference “for Rotherham” a region in the UK which involved a sex grooming scandal. Mr Khan expressed his shock about the tragedy.
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NZ POLICE PROBE OTHERS, NOT JUST TARRANT
Police believe only one man Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant was responsible for the 36 minutes of madness that left 49 people dead and as many again injured.
But New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush has revealed several other people were still under investigation for related offences including a man found at the scene with a gun and an as yet unknown intent.
Mr Bush yesterday confirmed police had arrested three people including a woman but one had been released already and Mr Bush said he would discuss the fate of the other two people later on Sunday. The two are believed to have been known to Tarrant.
Only one person other than Tarrant had so far been charged and it was not clear whether he was directly connected.
That 18-year-old local man was yesterday formally charged with having “intent to excite hostility, ill will against any group of persons in New Zealand on the grounds of the colour, race or ethnic or national origins of that group of persons, publishes written material which is insulting”. The maximum penalty is NZ$7000 (AUD$6760) under the Human Rights Act. The offence was allegedly committed on the day of the massacre.
Mr Bush said though a “considerable” number of people were being looked at as part of the broader investigation into social media racial inciting.
“We have a number of leads and we are not searching for anyone who is an imminent threat,” he said.
Originally published as Christchurch mosque shooting: Australian Federal Police offer help as NSW coroner’s office involved
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