Nicky Hager, author of New Zealand's controversial book "Dirty Politics" has alleged that his house has been raided by police, in the guise of searching for the hacker Rawshark, whose hacked e-mails of a government sponsored blogger formed the basis of his book that exposed the nexus between high level political offices and rented bloggers in running smear campaign against political rivals. The book had put Prime Minister John key's office on the defensive.

Hager told media that the police search at his Christchurch residence lasted 10-hours and took away his computers and personal papers. He said the raid was orchestrated to look like an attempt to decipher the identity of the person who had provided the core information used in the book, reported NZ Herald.

Dirty Politics had become a bombshell during the election season and cast aspersions on the credibility of WhaleOil blogger Cameron Slater. The hacker later released the information in the public domain under an identity Rawshark with a Twitter handle @whaledump.

Prolonged Raid

Hager told media that five officers came to his Wellington home last Thursday with a search warrant when he was away in Auckland. Hager said the police informed him that he will be made a witness and not a suspect. Hager asserted that there was nothing incriminating in his house that would uncover the source.

Hager said the he police took away a large collection of papers and electronic equipment belonging to Hager's family. That included computers, phones, CDs, Cameras and iPod. Hager alleged the seizure of the material looked like a "fishing expedition" carried out by officers who themselves had no idea what they were looking for. Hager said he would not cooperate with the police investigation as the police actions posed a threat to journalism in New Zealand and warned that he would consult lawyers to challenge the police action.

Hager charged that the raid in his house was done under the provisions of the "draconian search and surveillance bill'' passed in 2012. The police confirmed that it took away a few computers and related items under a search warrant. It was part of the ongoing investigation into the hacking of Cameron Slater's emails.

Slater Happy

Meanwhile, the blogger, Cameron Slater welcomed the police raid and demanded an early closure to the investigation, reported Stuff.Co.Nz. Slater in his blog rejected the claim of Hager that his book was a journalistic endeavour. Slater said, "Journalists do call people when they write about them. Also journalists give people a right of reply. Moreover, journalists try to tell the whole story, not massaged narratives with an inbuilt political agenda."