Report on search of my baggage and electronic devices 31 August 2014

Stephen Bell made this Official Information request to New Zealand Customs Service

Response to this request is long overdue. By law New Zealand Customs Service should have responded by now (details and exceptions). The requester can complain to the Ombudsman.

From: Stephen Bell

Dear New Zealand Customs Service,

My wife and I returned from holiday on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland on flight NZ768 on the afternoon of 31st August 2014.

Our bags and electronic devices were subjected to intensive search, including swabbing for drug traces. We were, as far as we know, the only passengers from that flight selected for such an investigation.

The search found nothing untoward, but one of your officers took voluminous notes in a small hand-held notebook during the exercise.

I request a full copy of those notes and the entry on your database that the investigation generated - pursuant to our rights under the Official Information Act and the Privacy Act (a copy of this letter will be sent to the Privacy Commissioner's Office).

I also request a copy of any background notes or correspondence relating to the reasons for the search.

Yours faithfully,

Stephen Bell

I am a British citizen; my wife is a New Zealand citizen. We are both New Zealand residents.

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From: OIA
New Zealand Customs Service

Dear Mr Bell

Thank you for your email sent to the New Zealand Customs Service (Customs).

Please note that the information you have requested is considered personal information for the purposes of the Privacy Act 1993 (the Privacy Act). You have chosen to submit your request to Customs via the FYI website which is a public forum. Any response made by Customs via this means will be publicly displayed on the FYI website. Please contact Customs at [email address] from a private email address so that Customs can process your request.

Kind regards
Chief Customs Officer - Procedures and Support

The information contained in this email message is intended only for the addressee and is not necessarily the official view or communication of the New Zealand Customs Service.

This email may contain information that is confidential or legally privileged. If you have received it by mistake, please:
(a) reply promptly to that effect, and remove this email and the reply from your system; and
(b) do not act on this email in any other way.

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From: Stephen Bell

Dear New Zealand Customs Service,

I have an OIA request in train re: 'Report on search of my baggage and electronic devices 31 August 2014'

I submitted this via the fyi.org.nz site (and rather wish now that I hadn't). The response on 3 September, indicates that information is ready for me and asks me to provide a private email address, if I do not what the information published on the site.

My private address is: [email address]

Yours faithfully,

Stephen Bell

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Things to do with this request

Anyone:
New Zealand Customs Service only: