A former employee of the National Army Museum in Waiouru, who has been charged with stealing more than 800 of its medals, is believed to have served for 26 years as a territorial soldier and also as a peacekeeper in Bougainville.

Keith John Davies, 57, was arrested by police at Wellington Airport yesterday afternoon after voluntarily flying in from Australia.

He then appeared in Wellington District Court charged with the theft of 843 medals worth about $256,000, obtaining property by deception, false accounting and unlawfully exporting New Zealand antiquities.

Stolen military history books and memorabilia worth $26,000 also form part of the police case, which took 14 months to build with the help of Australian Federal Police and the New Zealand Defence Force.

Davies was an employee at the museum between 1995 and 2002, when police believe the thefts took place.

A haul of medals was found during a police search of his Queensland home in July. Police said others had been found in Britain, New Zealand and possibly the United States.

To date, 300 of the medals have been recovered, worth about $120,000.

To read the complete article, see:Medal theft accused served as territorial(www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/5544458/Medal-theft
-accused-served-as-territorial)