WELLINGTON, July 5: Israel has offered no explanation for why two men, allegedly members of Israel's secret service agency Mossad, were in New Zealand, Prime Minister Helen Clark told reporters on Monday.

Two Israelis, Uriel Zoshe Kelman, 30, and Eli Cara, 40, pleaded guilty on Friday in Auckland's High Court to charges which included attempting to obtain a New Zealand passport and participating in an organized crime group to obtain a false passport.

Media reports quoting unnamed government officials alleged the men, arrested on March 23 after police covertly followed them when they were arranging to pick up a passport they had fraudulently applied for, were Israeli secret agents.

Most of the details of the case were suppressed in court ahead of sentencing on July 15. They face a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment. Clark, who at the time of the arrests said New Zealand would make a "strong and public response" after the case has gone through court, was reluctant Monday to discuss it.

She said no explanation was given when Associate Foreign Affairs Minister Jim Sutton called on Canberra-based acting Israeli ambassador Orna Sagiv. "None has been forthcoming" since, Clark said. Nothing more would be said until after sentencing, she said. -AFP