Tauranga Bomb Scare Linked to South Island Cult

The street here might feel pretty normal now, but back in 2005, this whole area was shut down for 13 hours. It was a bomb scare in central Tauranga, and it turned out to be linked to a wellness cult from the South Island.

A 57-year-old Slovenian named Jakob Slevec caused the incident. He'd studied at the Phenomena Academy, which was based at Takaro Lodge near Te Anau. This academy was a wellness cult run by a Chinese guru named Aiping Wang.

During the siege, Slevec was in the conference room of the Devonport Hotel. A hotel receptionist, Bronwin Pretorius, was with him for hours. Slevec claimed he had explosives and demanded to speak with Helen Clark, who was the Prime Minister at the time. Pretorius said he had a rucksack and told her he had a bomb.

The Armed Offenders Squad and bomb squad were deployed, and three city blocks were evacuated. The whole thing lasted 13 hours before authorities moved in and arrested Slevec without serious injury. News reports from that time said the shutdown of central Tauranga cost businesses $500,000.

Slevec was a student at Wang's Phenomena Academy and had been living at the lodge. He was one of 12 overseas followers who were facing deportation after New Zealand authorities closed down Wang's teaching institution. A government official confirmed that Jacob Slevec, the man with the backpack, had been living and studying at the lodge in Te Anau and had renewed his student visa multiple times over four years.

Pretorius mentioned that Slevec didn't seem scary and had a very calm nature. The next day in court, Slevec was charged with burglary and threatening to kill or cause grievous bodily harm, then deported to Slovenia. His bag actually contained no explosives. His protest seems to have been related to his impending deportation back to Eastern Europe. The _Bay of Plenty Times_ reported in 2005 that he "believed he had to commit a crime to be deported without having to pay for his airfare home." Pretorius recalled him saying he wanted to go back home, though it was unclear if he meant Slovenia or Te Anau.

Wang's Phenomena Academy was set up in 2000 as a government-accredited teaching institute, offering a three-year "diploma of life consultancy." This accreditation allowed Wang to bring foreign followers to New Zealand on student visas. After a 2004 television documentary exposed questionable practices at the lodge, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority withdrew its accreditation, and a dozen followers on student visas, including Slevec, were deported. Wang is believed to have remained in New Zealand under a golden visa after buying the Lodge property for $2.1 million in 1998. Ex-followers say she brought them to the southwest of the South Island because she believed it was the best place to survive a world disaster. Once in Aotearoa, the academy promised believers they would learn to levitate, see the future, and be healed without medicine. VIP believers were charged just under three quarters of a million dollars for life membership and access to the guru.