(New Zealand Herald Photo by Greg Bowker sourced from RNZ)
Venkat Raman
Auckland, December 30, 2022
While the law enforcement agencies, especially the New Zealand Police acted swiftly to contain the terrorist who attacked shoppers with a knife at Lynn Mall in West Auckland on September 3, 2021, there were several deficiencies in managing the offender earlier, according to an independent, official Report.
The Report, called, ‘Coordinated Review of the Management of the Lynn Mall Supermarket Attacker’ prepared by the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security, the Independent Police Authority and the Office of Inspectorate, released on December 14, 2022, found deficiencies in four areas. They include (a) Pro-Social support to address his isolation (b) Gaps in inter-agency arrangements (c) Barriers to information sharing and (d) Time in custody on remand.
The attacker, Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen was of Sri Lankan Origin on an international student permit and was under surveillance by several law enforcement agencies for some time.
He is referred to as Mr Samsudeen throughout the Report.
The Independent Report, the findings of which have been accepted by the New Zealand Police said that failure to provide pro-social support to address his isolation and mental health difficulties led him down a different path. There were also very limited attempts to address his needs during the extended time he spent in custody, and fragmented and inadequate attempts to develop integrated and long-term plans for his two releases, it said.
The Report found gaps in inter-agency arrangements that were established to coordinate the actions of individual agencies.
“The various inter-agency groups established to ensure an all-of-government response to national security risks worked appropriately to facilitate information-sharing at a high level about the current and planned actions of various agencies engaged with Mr Samsudeen. However, they failed to identify gaps in the overall government response to the risk that he posed, and in particular the absence of a long-term plan to address his needs,” it said.
Information Sharing: Barriers
There was an excessive reluctance to share information about Mr Samsudeen and the risk he posed, both within the Police and Corrections systems (where relevant information relating to Mr Samsudeen held by intelligence staff was withheld from other operational staff) and between those agencies and the community. The issues surrounding the sharing and use of classified material should have been considered and discussions on what could have been shared with a wider audience should have occurred.
“The length of time Mr Samsudeen was detained in custody on remand – more than four years between May 2017 and September 2021 – was unacceptably long and undoubtedly greatly exacerbated his risk of causing harm,” the Report said.
None of these comments however undermine the quality and quantity of work undertaken by the Police in the months and years preceding the terrorist attacks.
The Report reiterates at the outset that all those who were dealing with Mr Samsudeen were doing what they thought best, with limited experience of the difficult challenge they confronted.
“We of course do not know whether, if they had acted differently, there would have been a different outcome; that is unlikely perhaps, given Mr Samsudeen’s general reluctance to engage with others. We, therefore, draw attention to the areas where a different response would have been preferable, not to attribute fault but in the hope that some lessons can be learned that may reduce the potential for a similar occurrence in the future,” the Report said.
The Report can be read in full here.
Mr Samsudeen arrived in New Zealand in October 2011. He was 22 years old and travelling on a student visa.
Refugee status application and cancellation
Shortly after arriving, he made a claim for refugee status. Immigration New Zealand (INZ) declined this claim in 2012, but he appealed to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal and was successful. He was granted refugee status in December 2013.
In 2016, the terrorist came to the attention of the Police and the National Security Intelligence Services (NZSIS). In the course of investigations, INZ was made aware of the information that led them to believe that the individual’s refugee status was fraudulently obtained. The process was started to cancel his refugee status, and with it, his right to stay in New Zealand.
In February 2019, INZ cancelled his refugee status. He was served with deportation liability notices. In April, he appealed against his deportation to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal. He was still in prison at this time and facing criminal charges.
For a number of reasons, the deportation appeal could not proceed until after the conclusion of the criminal trial in May 2021.
Concerns over community safety
In the meantime, agencies were concerned about the risk this individual posed to the community. They also knew he may be released from prison, and that his appeal through the Tribunal, which was stopping his deportation, may take some time.
INZ explored whether the Immigration Act might allow them to detain the individual while his deportation appeal was heard. It was incredibly disappointing and frustrating when legal advice came back to say this wasn’t an option.
A person can only be detained under the Immigration Act for the purpose of deportation. INZ was required to consider whether deportation was likely to proceed. That meant assessing what the tribunal was likely to find about this person.
‘Protected Person’
Crown laws advice to INZ was that the individual was likely to be considered a “protected person” because of the status of the country from which he had travelled, and likely treatment on return. Protected people cannot be deported from New Zealand. After receiving this advice, INZ determined they could not detain the individual while he waited for his appeal. Soon after, he was released from prison, and police began their monitoring and surveillance of him.
On the 26th of August, the Immigration and Protection Tribunal hearing was rescheduled. At the time of the terrorist attack, the offender’s attempt to overturn the deportation decision was still ongoing.
This has been a frustrating process.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that since 2018, Ministers have been seeking advice on our ability to deport this individual.
“In July this year, I met with officials in person and expressed my concern that the law could allow someone to remain here who obtained their immigration status fraudulently and posed a threat to our national security. I asked for work to be undertaken to look at whether we should amend our law, in the context of our international obligations. Ultimately these timelines show that INZ had, from the beginning, sought to deport this man and was right to do so,” she said.
