WELLINGTON, 7 August 2003 — New Zealand police said yesterday there was no indication of terrorist links with a man charged with taking examinations for a pilot’s license on behalf of a citizen of Saudi Arabia who had recently arrived in the country.
But police were still keeping an open mind on things, Detective Neil Grimstone told the Rotorua Daily Post after the 27-year-old New Zealand student appeared in the Tauranga District Court.
The man, whose name was suppressed by the court, offered no plea on five charges of sitting in on examinations to gain private and commercial pilot qualifications for the Saudi Arabian national.
He was granted bail till Sept. 1 on condition he surrenders his passport and does not enter any New Zealand airport.
The court suppressed details of the Saudi Arabian involved in the charges.
The man was arrested after taking an examination at an aero club in Tauranga, on the east coast of the North Island, on Tuesday.
