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Salient. Official Newspaper of Victoria University of Wellington Students Association. Vol 40 No. 14. June 13 1977

Kiwis Captured

Kiwis Captured

Three NZ Special Air Service troops have been captured by liberation forces on the Thai-Malaysia border where NZ troops have been secretly active, says the April 20 issue of Nexus, journal of the Waikato University students. The full article reads as follows:

Sources high in two Government Ministries, revealed to Nexus that three Special Air Service troops had been captured on the Thai-Malaysia border. The troops are said to have been militarily active in a combat zone. They were part of a squad of ten S.A.S. troops under the command of a Lieutenant. It is said that the men were operating independently of the other troops in the area. We do not know if the men were Cambatants or "Advisers". It is also not known who captured the troops or where they are now.

The Government has officially denied the presence of N.Z. combat troops in the area.

The parents of one of the captured men has written to the Ministry of Defence, querying the unexplained absence of their son. We do not know the substance of the ministry's reply.

The Government has officially denied the presence of the incident. The media has been kept quiet by pressure brought to bear on journalists. One T.V. journalist, who previously has criticised the Ministry of Defence was told that he would loose his job if he attempted to follow up the story.

The Government says that the only N.Z. troops present in S.E. Asia" are those based in Singapore. But this story, coming as it does from two sources, confirms a mounting suspicion that N.Z. still maintains active troops in S.E. Asia. Why are the troops there and why are they there secretly? But more importantly, why are there any troops in S.E. Asia at all? On whose order and to what purpose is the Government working? The Government and the Ministry of Defence have a lot of questions to answer to the people of New Zealand.