"2006: The 9/11 hijacker’s flatmate training to be a pilot in Palmerston North
But by 2004, Hallett “thought it was time to stop running around and get a desk job”. He shifted into a role at Police National Headquarters, working in the National Bureau of Criminal Intelligence.
Working alongside the Security Intelligence Service, Hallett was exposed to major transnational crimes, such as the investigation into the 2012 attempted assassination of Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama.
One particular “wild moment” that made Hallett realise that “even though we’re at the bottom of the world, international terrorism can come to us” was the 2006 deportation of a man who had been a roommate of one of the 9/11 terrorists.
Saudi Arabian student pilot Rayed Mohammed Abdullah Ali lived and trained in the US with Hani Hanjour, the hijacker-pilot who crashed a plane into the Pentagon as part of the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
In February 2006, Ali entered New Zealand on a student visa, citing dreams of becoming a commercial airline pilot. He moved to Palmerston North and began his training at the Manawatu Aero Club.
“Thankfully, we managed to get him out of the country. It was made very clear to us within the halls of power that we had the legislation under the Immigration Act to remove him from the country without it becoming a cause célèbre,” Hallett said.
On May 29, 2006, police raided Ali’s home, and by May 30 he was on his way back to Saudi Arabia. Just over a week later, Immigration Minister of the time, David Cunliffe, confirmed that Ali has been deported for posing “a threat to national security”.
While no evidence has ever been made public that Ali was actively planning a terrorist attack in New Zealand, he was named in the 9/11 Commission Report as a leader at the Islamic Cultural Center in Phoenix and reportedly gave extremist speeches at the mosque.
Ali was also recorded as using a flight simulator with Hanjour just months before the 9/11 attacks, Hallett said.
“I think the way it was dealt with was textbook - he didn’t become a martyr or celebrity, but he was, quite rightly, deported.”
