Spy Games: All Blacks Hotel Bug 'Defies Logic' As A Wallabies Snoop
September 6, 2016 | Business Crime
Have the All Blacks become the victims of sporting espionage? Or could the team have pulled a double-blind by bugging themselves in the lead up to last month's opening Bledisloe Cup encounter in Sydney?
New South Wales Police have yet to rule out the possibility someone within the world champions' set-up placed the listening device in the team's meeting room in Double Bay's InterContinental Hotel.
Law enforcement have stated it would treat "every possibility seriously" irrespective of how far-fetched it may seem.
Private investigators believe it's unlikely the Wallabies spied on the All Blacks in Sydney.
Here are four possible scenarios of how the bug came to be:
1) THE BUG WAS PLANTED BY THE WALLABIES
Wallabies player, David Pocock on the receiving end of an All Blacks' tackle in Sydney, five days after a listening device is found in the New Zealand team's hotel.
While many All Blacks fans were quick to paint the Wallabies as cheats, the director of private investigation firm Thompson & Toresen, Daniel Toresen, all-but discounted this as a possibility.
"From my perspective, I wouldn't have thought that was not a very likely scenario at all. The risks of getting caught, the consequences of that being discovered ... I think that would outweigh the benefits of it.
"It defies logic that [the Wallabies] would do that."
Much has been made about New Zealand Rugby's delay in alerting police - it was five days before they were told - however, Toresen did not think it was suspicious.
"If we were to find a bug in a company's premises or boardroom, then obviously we would want to report that to police, but that wouldn't be done immediately. Some internal inquiries would be done first," Toresen said.
He also warned that once the issue became a police matter, the situation would be out of the All Blacks' hands.
"Whereas if you start some internal investigations, you can control that quite easily and confidentially," Toresen said.
2) THE BUG WAS PLANTED BY A BETTING SYNDICATE
Disgraced former Black Cap Lou Vincent could attest to how pervasive the dark world of match and spot-fixing can be.
The former cricketer earned his place in the sporting hall of infamy for his role as a fixer, before being banned for life by corruption.
In June, the NRL announced New South Wales Police were investigating fixing allegations relating to at least two games.
Four New Zealand Heineken Open tennis matches were also suspected of being influenced by match-fixing.
Jones thought a betting syndicate may have been responsible, because they would have money and resources to carry out the plan.
"If you put your rugby hat on, most people would've said it wouldn't be worth putting money on the Wallabies, but if you take that off, match-fixing organisations would absolutely have the capability to do such a thing."
But did it happen in Sydney? Toresen thought the chances were low.
"It's always a possible scenario, but the fact that the room was reasonably secure within a hotel would leave me to believe if it was a betting syndicate, that they would be uncovered quite quickly and the police would be easily tracking that."
3) THE BUG WAS PLANTED BY A HOTEL WORKER
According to Toresen, the biggest risk of eavesdropping comes from staff.
In this case, the bugger would have needed good access to the room to plant and retrieve the listening device.
Staffers have "easy access to the room and they're trusted."
An aggrieved worker may be motivated to embarrass their employer.
"Particularly in redundancy situations, it's really helpful for that person to get in and start dropping in on what's going on in their job. If my job's at risk and it's constantly being talked about and they're having secret meetings in the board room, then I want to know what's going on in there.
"Sometimes it's just as simple as taping a tape recorder under a desk," Toreson explained.
Sydney's InterContinental hotel was reportedly "furious" about its reputation being scrutinised and have cooperated fully with the police investigation.
4) THE BUG WAS PLANTED BY THE ALL BLACKS AS PART OF A PRANK
A private investigator had serious doubts that anyone in the All Blacks would have gone to the trouble of bugging themselves - even as a joke.
He thought the planting of the device was far too elaborate to be a prank.
"I would be very surprised if anybody would do that.
"It's a very serious criminal offence to plant a bug, so I think whoever has done this, has done this purposely, with intent, either to bug the All Blacks or somebody else that was possibly in the hotel beforehand," he said.
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- Article originally on www.stuff.co.nz.
