3 News has discovered a second Islamic State website is using an Auckland address, and unlike the one revealed this morning, this one is still operational.
The websites both list a PO box in Parnell as their base, to the horror of the company that's their landlord.
Website qa.af is full of Islamic State propaganda, with videos preaching for Westerners to join the fight. So too is another Islamic State website, www.khilafah.is, which contained beheading videos and was shut down by European authorities overnight.
Gareth Foster runs the company Private Box, which rented out the address to the websites.
"We were shocked," says Mr Foster. "It's absolutely horrifying. We're a small New Zealand company. We employ three people, and to be linked with stuff in Iraq and Syria is just completely crazy."
To register a website, you must list a physical address. Khilafah.is and qa.af rented the Auckland address for $10 a month in the name of Azym Abdullah. Credit card checks reveal he is not based in New Zealand.
Mr Foster said the "domain in question was registered to a Azym Abdullah".
"This person is not a customer of ours."
Digital security consultant Daniel Ayers says the New Zealand address was likely picked for one reason.
"New Zealand is seen as a very safe, benign location," says Mr Ayers. "It's the same reason why New Zealand passports are highly regarded by spies and people who want to travel the world unnoticed."
The Prime Minister wasn't available to comment today, but yesterday talked about Islamic State and its slick propaganda.
Our foreign spies, the GCSB, are almost certainly looking into the websites and their links to New Zealand, but wouldn't officially comment.
While one of the websites has been shut down, the other is still up and running and you can be sure our authorities will be working to get that taken down too.
3 News
source: newshub archive
