Spooks in the Valley

Thirty years on from NZs great spy moment, the SIS agent who snapped a Russian spy is releasing a book on what happened and what a traitor the spy was.

Tonights Sunday show had an interview with the agent, and went into the whole thing. Basically at the height of the Cold War - while Vietnam was still going strong - in 1976 a young SIS agent was trailing a known KGB dude from the Soviet embassy, when he saw him hold a clandestine meeting with another guy - outside the Karori Bowling Club. It turns out the other guy was Bill Sutch, who was a high profile public servant, and former NZ Ambassador to the UN.

The SIS then trailed Sutch for another month or so, and one night was seen handing over a package to the KGB - which is when the SIS struck, arresting Sutch for Treason! The cool thing about this, is that the arrest took place in Aro Valley. The handover was witnessed by the War Memorial at the top of Aro St - where Raroa rd begins, and the arrest took place outside the public toilets, which were pulled down in 2000 - its where the clothing drop off bins are now.

To mark this site, there is a park bench next to the clothing bins, with a plaque on what was the back wall of the toilets.

So there you have it - NZs greatest spy episode took place just down the road from my place!

Sutch was acquited of Treason (the KGB agent managed to get away with the package - meaning there was no tangible evidence). Sutch denied he was a spy right up till his death from cancer a year later.