his ability to live rough<\/a>, it is almost certain he has access to hard shelter and supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"The]()
The quad bike used by Tom Phillips as a getaway vehicle in September 2025 before he engaged in a shootout with police, where he was fatally shot. Photo \/ Hayden Woodward <\/p>\n
The briefing said: \u201cPhillips is very familiar with the area and is considered to be well-versed moving and hiding in the nearby bush.\u201d<\/p>\n
It warned that police believed he was armed and had been \u201ccaptured on CCTV carrying a rifle while moving around at night\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice hold concerns about the children\u2019s welfare,\u201d the briefing said.<\/p>\n
The first confirmed request for NZSAS assistance was made in late May 2024 by Inspector Gary Rakena, the STG\u2019s northern tactical commander.<\/p>\n
His email, forwarded by Freda Grace, manager of operations support at Police National Headquarters, asked the Defence Force for \u201cdirect discreet tracking and special reconnaissance support\u201d to an upcoming STG operation in the Waikato West area.<\/p>\n
The plan called for the NZSAS to be involved from June 10-13, 2024, to coincide with a police campaign in which cars were stopped and checked, aerial surveillance was carried out and an $80,000 reward offered.<\/p>\n
On June 6, 2024, the Defence Force responded saying: \u201cYes, this is approved.\u201d<\/p>\n
The documents show the NZSAS soldiers would not be armed in the June deployments but police tactical teams would carry weapons and have medics and communications staff embedded.<\/p>\n
The joint task aimed to identify possible observation posts and \u201ctest established tactical communications support\u201d before covertly deploying to Marokopa.<\/p>\n
![\"The]()
The NZSAS is usually used for overseas counter-terror or combat operations, such as the troopers pictured here working through the British Council Office in Kabul in 2011 after insurgents attacked and took hostages. Photo \/ NZDF<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear whether any trace of Phillips was found but the documents show the NZSAS and STG maintained \u201c24\/7 coverage over the ensuing period\u201d through to the evening of June 13.<\/p>\n
Four months later, after pig hunters captured video of Phillips and the children near Marokopa on October 3, 2024, the police moved fast.<\/p>\n
At 10.05pm that day, Grace again asked for NZSAS support \u201cfrom tomorrow, October 4, 2024\u2026 likely two days initially\u201d.<\/p>\n
The request was sent to a senior commander 27 minutes later, who forwarded it even higher saying: \u201cNZ Police have requested NZSAS tracking support to assist with the location and arrest of Thomas Phillips and the safe recovery of his three children.<\/p>\n
\u201cA recent sighting of Mr Phillips has identified a start point and specialist tracking skills are required to conduct this task.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NZDF will provide tracking support only and will not take part in the arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n
And five minutes after that, the assistant chief of strategic commitments and engagements Brigadier Andrew Shaw emailed: \u201cApproved. NZDF pers may forward-stage weapons. Carriage on task will be subject to further confirmation.\u201d<\/p>\n
An internal summary later recorded that \u201c2 \u00d7 1 NZSAS trackers deployed with STG teams into the field in order to locate sign of the group who were sighted the day before\u201d.<\/p>\n
By April 2025 police had the use of a drone and sought again to bring in NZSAS support.<\/p>\n
The next request came on April 9, 2025, seeking a liaison officer to sit alongside the STG command group during a \u201csearch phase\u201d in Marokopa and a tracking team of two to four NZSAS operators who could deploy \u201cif required within the same period\u201d.<\/p>\n
The plan involved unmanned aircraft system (UAS) flights scanning a 50sq km area of bush and farmland by night.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ground is considered challenging and consists of undulating terrain, thick native bush, and extensive farmland,\u201d the briefing said.<\/p>\n
The briefing said if the drone found Phillips, then it would follow as the STG moved in. In the event the drone lost sight of the fugitive and his children, the STG would then rely on NZSAS trackers \u201cto locate their direction of travel\/location\/camp as the case may be\u201d.<\/p>\n
This time, the \u201crisk\u201d section of the briefing said: \u201cAuthorities are sought for any NZSAS to be armed for self-defence purposes and in line with the postures that STG teams would have in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Approval came on April 11, 2025, with the documents showing a team of up to four NZSAS operators was sent to help with the search from April 24-27. The later date came after police sought to extend the support, citing \u201cthe way information and opportunities are presenting\u201d.<\/p>\n
The three operations followed the same pathway approval from the Police National Headquarters security and international section to the strategic commitments and engagements branch at Defence.<\/p>\n
The documents carried the following test: \u201cShould we? Yes. Can we? Yes. Will we? I recommend you approve this request.\u201d<\/p>\n
In each phase the NZSAS operated under police operational command with explicit instructions to avoid direct engagement.<\/p>\n
They also show police and NZSAS cut out the commanders once they were on the ground with approval for \u201cDIRLAUTH\u201d \u2013 direct liaison authority \u2013 allowing those involved to \u201cfacilitate detailed planning and execution\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Defence Act allows the military to help civil authorities in emergencies or \u201cpublic interest\u201d situations. But deployments of the NZSAS on domestic policing tasks happen only rarely and are highly sensitive.<\/p>\n
David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He joined the Herald in 2004.<\/p>\n
Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite sightings and an $80,000 reward, it wasn\u2019t until September 2025 the manhunt came to an end when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7814,16651,3595,1559,1061,2223,1403,33231,1866,5760,8223,5838,4748,10937,88477,78,296,14606,111,43,139,69,88478,10936,675,12860,1962,5134,88479,6736,2201,3608,102,80],"class_list":["post-127517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-armed","tag-bush","tag-by","tag-called","tag-children","tag-confirmed","tag-defence","tag-elite","tag-find","tag-force","tag-forces","tag-help","tag-hiding","tag-hunt","tag-hunted","tag-in","tag-into","tag-marokopa","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-nzsas","tag-phillips","tag-police","tag-revealed","tag-special","tag-tom","tag-trackers","tag-was","tag-went","tag-were","tag-with","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}