Guest Speaker - Andy Bell

Re Andy Bell  .......

“I joined the NZ Police in 1969 and worked on ‘general duties’ in Auckland. In 1971 I was asked to go undercover to investigate  and infiltrate a major drug syndicate in Wellington. This required me to become and live the life of a criminal, changing my appearance to a degree and taking on a totally different persona. This was a new initiative for the  NZ Police so it was an enormous learning curve for all concerned. After 10 months we successfully brought to a halt the large scale importation of drugs into NZ via Wellington.

I was then asked to infiltrate a number of subversive organisations who were rallying against the impending South African Rugby Tour. As a result of the intelligence I was able to gather the tour was cancelled.

I remained, with a couple of small breaks, deep undercover for 3 years infiltrating various drug syndicates in Auckland , Wellington and Christchurch.”

Tonight Andy's talk will cover the early days and the South African Rugby Tour.  Subsequent talks cover later escapades.