Story: Intelligence services

On 30 April 2008, three peace activists broke into the Government Communications Security Bureau listening station at Waihopai, near Blenheim. The three activists, farmer Samuel Land, Dominican friar Peter Murnane and teacher Adrian Leason, were part of the Christian pacifist movement Ploughshares Aotearoa. They used sickles to deflate a dome covering one of the satellite dishes. Their action was a protest against the role of Waihopai in collaborating with the military and intelligence services of the USA and UK. In a subsequent jury trial the three men were found not guilty of burglary and wilful damage on the grounds that they believed they were saving lives by their actions.