According to NZ local media report, the people in the boat were apprehended in Indonesian waters on saturday, who were also waving pro NZ flags and signs.
"New Zealand was "unlikely" to have been their actual destination," NZ Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman said yesterday.
"In terms of the actual plans that they had it doesn't appear they weren't actually intending to come here in the first place.
"If you look at where these boats have gone in the past they've gone to a range of destinations, Canada's pretty popular as is Australia," Coleman said.
There were no maps on board to navigate to New Zealand, he said, adding that even he also had other information that indicated they may not have been heading here.
Meanwhile, NZ Herald qouted the Prime minister John key as saying "Letting boatpeople into New Zealand would reward people smugglers and open the floodgates to asylum seekers."
"We've upgraded our operating manual.. in the way that we'd deal with a mass migration issue if it came to New Zealand and we're confident that we understand our legal position.
The PM considered that the message of not being welcomed in the country, given out to the asylum seekers was not harsh.
"If New Zealand doesn't have strong policy in this area then what it ends up doing, in my view, is sending completely the wrong message, which is that we welcome people who are going to jump the queue, that we want people to put their lives at risk," Key added.