Terror net spreads wide
18 October 2007 As the police continue to search homes across the country it seems more and more people are getting caught up in the raids. Ati Teepa was not at his Taupo home when the police called, so he called on them. Local police seemed surprised that Teepa - wanted in the terrorism sweep - had come to their doorstep. But Teepa told them he just wanted to "do the right thing, bring myself in nice and quietly cause I've got nothing to hide". Teepa is originally from Ruatoki, the centre of this week's police raids, but he was in Ngaruawahia for a health conference at the time. However, back in Taupo, someone was at home - his partner as well as some overseas guests. "They must have asked me close to 30 times the same question 'do you know if your partner is involved in any military activity in the Urewera and after about the twentieth time I said 'have you got a pea brain or are you deaf?'," says Teepa's partner Charlotte Pearsall. Like Teepa, Tauranga pensioner Clive Martin was not home either when the police called at his place. "They went through all my private things and things that I do here...minding my own business ... they ransacked my shed and I've tried several times to try and clean it all up. I'm finding it quite hard. I'm finding it hard to sleep," he says. And it seems the actions police say they have taken in the name of safety have left some wondering if it is safe to be outspoken in New Zealand. "I say stand strong because it's awful," says Pearsell.
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