RAINBOW WARRIOR
The detective who co-ordinated the 1985 bombing inquiry
Allan Galbraith rejects the notion that New Zealand – in its innocence – somehow didn’t understand the dog-eat-dog world; that it should have known its antinuclear stand invited a terror attack.
‘‘To suggest that we deserved it because we didn’t appreciate the danger that the world may or may not have been in from the anti-nuclear stance is ridiculous,’’ the retired police detective superintendent says.
‘‘I think it reflects the thinking in the French Secret Service and at least some political masters that they could actually perpetrate a bombing in a friendly country.’’
The Rainbow Warrior was bombed by French Secret Service agents on July 10, 1985 while tied up near downtown Auckland. It was just before it was due to sail for Mururoa Atoll to protest against French nuclear testing.
Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira died in the explosion, the only act of international terrorism on New Zealand soil.
Two of the 13 agents who took part – Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur – were arrested by police two days after the bombing and charged with murder. They received 10-year jail terms after pleading guilty to manslaughter, but were freed within months.
Galbraith, now 80, was the officer in charge of investigating the bombing and co-ordinating 23 staff across nine countries in a global effort to capture the conspirators – at its peak about 100 investigators were involved in one of the biggest cases New Zealand police had ever undertaken.
While most of the conspirators ended up eluding any justice, Galbraith said his team were deep inside the job and not thinking of the geopolitical ramifications exploding around them.
‘‘Later once the dust had settled and we had time to think what it was all about, I guess we became – like every other Kiwi – frustrated, annoyed and disappointed that France even considered carrying out an attack like that. But at the time of the investigation we were far too busy just getting on with the job.’’
Some sliver of justice was exacted, in terms of the damage to France’s global reputation, which was ‘‘quite damning’’, Galbraith says.
Yesterday, the Sunday Star-Times revealed Christine Cabon, the French spy who infiltrated Greenpeace and helped plan the bombing, was living a normal, civilian life in a small rural town in southern France.
Cabon came here several months ahead of the bombing. Her job was to infiltrate, or simply join, Greenpeace in Auckland and send information back to France.
‘‘Greenpeace realised they’d had an unusual French woman in their midst for some time and of course that attracted our attention to her,’’ Galbraith says.
‘‘She got on well with the Greenpeace folks in Auckland and I think, in hindsight, they realised how unusual that was but, at the time, she obviously presented as a sympathiser; someone who was willing to do some work and she was accepted.’’
Cabon – alias Frederique Bonlieu – had fled before the bombing to Israel, where news reports confirmed that authorities were on to her.
In Israel, she was welcomed because she had worked out of the levant on spy missions in the past.
Cabon was spirited away to France before an officer could be sent or an extradition order executed.
‘‘It was a surprise to find her in Israel. I don’t know precisely, but I think it simply was that Israel was a friendly harbour, if you like, in terms of France and she was able to simply submerge into life there. I think the Israelis were very well aware she was an intelligence agent.’’
Galbraith has long made peace with his frustrations with the case. ‘‘You’ve got to roll with the punches ... it’s well and truly closed and there’s no point in resurrecting it.’’
He doesn’t expect Cabon will ever face justice – even the two agents who were charged served only a short sentence on the Hao Atoll in the Pacific.
‘‘It seemed to be, to me, a politically managed event resulting from French pressure on the New Zealand Government.’’
But Galbraith would be interested in talking to Cabon, whom he suspects may have been kept in the dark about her role.
‘‘I would love to have a chat with her. I’m sure the Greenpeace people that she lived with for a while in Auckland would really love to talk to her ... Whether she knew there was going to be a sabotage or ... much less than that.’’