New Zealand orders top-level inquiry into mosque massacres
Wellington: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday ordered an independent judicial inquiry into whether police and intelligence services could have prevented the Christchurch mosque attacks on March 15.
Ardern said a royal commission -- the most powerful judicial probe available under New Zealand law -- was needed to find out how a single gunman was able to kill 50 people in an attack that shocked the world.
"It is important that know stone is left unturned to get to how this act of terrorism occurred and how we could have stopped it," she told reporters.
"New Zealand is not a surveillance state ... but questions need to be answered." Ardern ruled out New Zealand re-introducing the death penalty for accused gunman Brenton Tarrant, 28, who was arrested minutes after the attack on the mosques and has been charged with murder.
She said details of the royal commission were being finalised, but it would be comprehensive and would report in a timely manner.
It will cover the activities of intelligence services, police, customs, immigration and any other relevant government agencies in the lead-up to the attack.
The gunman livestreamed the attack online, although New Zealand has outlawed the footage as "objectionable content".
Ardern reiterated she believed it should not be aired.
"That video should not be shared. That is harmful content," she said when questioned about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan showing excerpts of the footage at campaign rallies for local elections this month.
Erdogan had angered both Wellington and Canberra with campaign rhetoric about anti-Muslim Australians and New Zealanders being sent back in "coffins" like their grandfathers at Gallipoli, a World War I battle.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
NIA conducts searches at 22 locations to probe human trafficking syndicate
New Delhi (PTI): The National Investigation Agency on Thursday conducted searches at 22 locations in six states to probe a human trafficking syndicate luring youth to work in call centres engaged in cyber frauds, officials said.
They said the searches were being conducted in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi among other places.
The case, which was registered by police in Gopalganj in Bihar, relates to an organised syndicate luring and trafficking Indian youth to foreign countries on the pretext of jobs and forcing them to work in fake call centres engaged in cyber fraud.
