An Auckland man appeared in court yesterday charged with operating an alleged passport fraud ring.

Christopher Herbert Robinson, a 30 year old former employee of the Internal Affairs Department, made a brief appearance in the Auckland District Court yesterday, after he was arrested by Auckland police's Asian Crime Unit.

Police allege Robinson obtained a New Zealand passport, with intent to defraud.

The passport has been seized and Robinson has been ordered to obey a strict curfew until he next appears in court in two weeks.

Police have also charged a 50 year old Malaysian man with the same offence.

The Asian Crime Unit is continuing an investigation into a passport scam operation and irregularities surrounding the issue of New Zealand passports.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>