Winkelmann ruled in June that the copying and transportation of Dotcom's data overseas by the US was illegal. Langille was asked if it was common practice not to recover the data at the ECL in New Zealand.

"Would you say this was not like the ordinary, where you would be involved in the triage of the data. That your responsibilities ended with securing the data for the FBI," asked Dotcom's lawyer Paul Davison QC.

To which Langille replied: "Yes, that would be a fair assessment."

Langille told the court his team was given very limited information on the raid, and the data they were expected to collect. A briefing which took place on 18 January, involving two FBI agents, was the first time he was told about the property they were going to target.

Langille also said at the briefing it was made clear that the operation was top secret. Once he was aware of Megaupload and Kim Dotcom, he said he and his staff were told not to go on megaupload.com because "they didn't want a trail of police on there."