The Government will not beef up security further for the Cricket World Cup in response to the terror attacks in Paris but says it's keeping a close eye on international events in case upgrades are needed.
And it has been revealed 40 people are being monitored in New Zealand for their involvement in terrorism-associated activity. The security services are monitoring about 80 people -- with 40 of those on a current security watch list.
A New Zealand Intelligence Community spokesman said yesterday the main focus of security services was on people "travelling to Syria to engage in fighting" and those who had tried but had their passports cancelled.
"The remaining people on the watch list are involved in funding terrorism, radicalising others or are becoming radicalised themselves."
Prime Minister John Key has previously warned of the heightened risk of a terror attack at the Cricket World Cup, hosted by New Zealand and Australia, and cited this as a reason for urgently passing anti-terror laws last month.
Duty minister Chris Finlayson said yesterday security was being taken very seriously and had been built into the Cricket World Cup planning from an early stage.
"Any armed incident, including the tragic events in Paris, is an opportunity for us to learn and identify lessons that could help us in future events."
The World Cup next month and in March includes nations which have a military presence in the Middle East or have been targets of domestic terror attacks, such as Australia, Canada and England.
Cricket World Cup officials said they took their lead from the Government, and confirmed security was not being reviewed in light of the Paris attacks.
A spokesman reaffirmed that security measures had been planned for two years.
NZH
