A soldier charged with sharing military information that threatened New Zealand's security was leading a growing white nationalist movement.
The 27-year-old soldier, who has name suppression, was arrested in December at Linton Military Camp in circumstances that were shrouded in secrecy.
The man had been planning a trip to Russia for Christmas Stuff revealed at the time. He is now being supervised by the Defence Force while awaiting a military court trial.
He is charged with accessing a computer system for a dishonest purpose and for disclosing information that prejudiced the security or defence of New Zealand. It is not known who he supplied the information to.
Stuff has confirmed the soldier was behind an online profile named Johann Wolfe, a self-described co-founder of the white nationalist group the 'Dominion Movement', which subscribed to the same identitarian politics as the March 15 terror suspect.
A source close to the soldier has confirmed to Stuff the soldier is the person named Johann Wolfe in the podcast interview.
The group shut down its internet presence in the hours after the Christchurch mosque attacks, but a seemingly identical group - 'Action Zealandia' - has since emerged and earlier this month vandalised signage at a National Party office in Auckland.
The soldier was also questioned by police after March 15, Stuff has previously reported.
The soldier, under the pseudonym, was interviewed by the Australian alt-right podcast station The Convict Report produced by white nationalist group The Dingoes — which also shut down after the March 15 attack.
A source close to the soldier has confirmed to Stuff the soldier is the person named Johann Wolfe in the podcast interview.
Those close to the soldier were devastated after listening to the content of the interview, according to the source.
"It's heartbreaking listening to this. I know his family, this is not how he was raised," they said.
The soldier told the interviewers of their success at gaining new recruits for the white nationalist group.
"We're getting a reputation. We have a well-fostered public image of being well-natured and well-intentioned," he said.
"We focus on the positives rather than the negatives: the love of our own culture and our own heritage, instead of what we hate about other races - which is an easy trap to fall into."
He describes his own entry to the far-right ideology, saying he found solace in online humour after feeling "beaten over the head" for being white.
The soldier then spends much of the interview making what many would regard as racist remarks about Māori, and talks "extreme anti-European agitation" from the Government.
The Dominion Movement group, on its website, claimed meetings with both Australian counterparts from 'Identity Australia' and with Kerry Bolton, the former secretary of the white nationalist group National Front.
The soldier's involvement in white nationalist groups did not end after March 15.
Questions put to the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service were not answered.
His arrest first came to light after members of the far-right Christian group Wargus Christi began talking about a member being arrested in a chatroom on the Telegram app.
"One of our boys has been arrested for reasons still unknown," a message from the Wargus Christi group read.
Whether he was involved with Action Zealandia, an apparent successor to the Dominion Movement, is unknown.
Members of Action Zealandia group mask their identities on online posts, and have been plastering their white nationalist message in cities around the country.
On January 10, the group posted a series of images showing its members defacing signs at the National Party's Greenlane office, due to it housing the office of Chinese MP Jian Yang.
Both the Defence Force and police were continuing a combined criminal investigation into the soldier.
Questions put to the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service were not answered.
Defence Minister Ron Mark in December alluded to the soldier posing a security risk to New Zealand.
"I'd like to think that any Government department that has the security interests of this nation at heart would be monitoring itself, as well," he said.
