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Down Under

Unremorseful IS supporter jailed for 38 years over Curtis Cheng death

2018-11-25

[SydneyMorningHerald] An unremorseful Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... supporter who helped a teenage terrorist kill NSW Police accountant Curtis Cheng has been placed in durance vile Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! for at least 28½ years. Good. Milad Atai ...pretty boy plumber and enthusiastic jihadi henchman... was sentenced on Friday for assisting and encouraging 15-year-old Farhad Jabar ...also in our archives as Farhad Khalil Mohammad Jabar and Farhad Mohammad, the very connected, Iran-born lad of Iraqi and Kurdish background, self-described as bullied in a school with a known jihadi problem, was ripe for jihadi picking in a milieu chock full of ‘em... to shoot Mr Cheng at the state police headquarters at Parramatta on October 2, 2015 and helping the boy's sister reach Islamic State in Syria. In jailing the 22-year-old for a total of 38 years, NSW Supreme Court Justice Peter Johnson said Atai was a supporter of extreme jihad for many months before the terrorist attack and appeared still to hold radical views. As he was led away from court, Atai raised his index finger in the direction of the judge and shouted in a foreign language. Betcha the tapes would show he was shouting “Allahu akhbar,” or some similar nonsense, if there were tapes. It’s what all the kewl convicted jihadis are doing nowadays. His barrister told the court earlier the former plumber would not stand when he was sentenced, as is customary. "That itself is an indication of his current thinking, which is regrettable," Justice Johnson said. Justice Johnson said that, while Atai did not play the critical role of passing to Jabar the gun used to kill Mr Cheng, he was well aware of the plans and made no attempts to dissuade the boy. Further, as the self-described best friend of the key plotter Raban Alou, ...the known wolf who was a member of ISIS-supporting WhatsApp group ‘The Bricks’, so his subsequent actions ought not to have been a surprise... Atai attended several meetings across Sydney's west and offered the use of his own phone as Alou tried to get Jabar a gun. Justice Johnson said he didn't accept Atai's claim that he thought the attack had been called off. By his own evidence, Atai said that, had he known the attack was going ahead on October 2, he would have made sure he'd have attended to help Alou, the judge said. Atai also played a significant organizational role in helping to get Jabar's sister ...that would be Shadi Jabar Khalil Mohammad, also in our archives as Shadi Jabar, who fled to Syria the day before her younger brother murdered Mr. Cheng with a note from her in his pocket. She was killed along with her Sudanese husband Abu Sa'ad al-Sudani in an airstrike in Syria in 2016. Both she and her husband were active recruiters for ISIS. Her little brother was one of her practice projects... to Syria, including giving her $1000 for flights and advice on the route and clothing to take to avoid detection. Jabar died under police gunfire shortly after killing Mr Cheng. ...about which all involved were pleased, though his descent into Hell instead of ascent into Paradise no doubt startled young Master Jabar more than a little bit... Talal Alameddine gave the .38 Smith and Wesson special calibre revolver used to kill Mr Cheng to Alou, who gave it to Jabar in the Parramatta Mosque ...Parramatta Mosque and Parramatta Court appear in a surprising number of stories about jihadis in our archives, leading one to suspect the area is a seething den of jihadism and vice... about 15 minutes before it was used to kill Mr Cheng. Alameddine was sentenced in May to a maximum of 17 years and eight months. Also good. Alou was placed in durance vile Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! for 44 years in May for aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring a terrorist act. Very good indeed.

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Down Under

Australia migrant colonist briefs

2018-03-18

'Good people make shocking decisions': Greens leader Richard Di Natale says 'brainwashed' ISIS terrorists should be ALLOWED back into Australia 05/03/18 [DailyMail] The Victorian senator is opposed to Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton's push to strip dual nationals of their Australian citizenship if they had engaged in terrorist atrocities overseas. 'I don't want these people back here': Pauline Hanson says the children of ISIS fighters should be stripped of citizenship instead of being returned to Australia 05/03/18 [DailyMail] The One Nation leader made the call on the offspring of terrorist dual nationals after the wife and child of a notorious Islamic State member returned to Australia from the Middle East last year. REVEALED: How the Department of Juvenile Justice said Islam was GOOD for teenage jihadi who went on to help murder Curtis Cheng in a terror attack 01/03/18 [DailyMail] Raban Alou, 20, helped 15-year-old Farhad Jabar shoot police accountant Mr Cheng outside the New South Wales Police Headquarters in Parramatta on 2 October 2015. 'Beheading in France, 25 dead in suicide bomb. LOL': Chilling texts of the ISIS terrorist who gave Curtis Cheng's jihadi killer his gun - and he prayed for his 'soldier of Allah' in KFC the next day 01/03/18 [DailyMail] Raban Alou, 20, from Sydney, has been jailed for 44 years for arming 15-year-old Farhad Jabar. Just weeks before the attack, Alou posted sick messages supporting recent ISIS attacks. Father-of-two accused of shooting two teenage boys to settle family feud 'Google searched "Rocket propelled grenade launcher'' and "Islamic State" before violent attack' 28/02/18 [DailyMail] Zakaria Zaatiti, 23, is accused of shooting Mr Omran and a 16-year-old over a family feud at Roxburgh Park in Melbourne. Australia to monitor immigrants BEFORE they're allowed into the country - including rating how well they will 'integrate' into society 26/02/18 [DailyMail] Potential migrants will be subjected to three rounds of tests including covert research to establish how likely they are to integrate into Australian society under new plans being drawn up by ministers From sipping beers at the Sydney Opera House to hiking in the Blue Mountains: How a glamorous Iranian refugee couple lived 'the Australian dream' before they were 'caught with nearly 40 KILOS of ice' 26/02/18 [DailyMail] Ali Maleki and Yosra Rabieh were granted temporary protection visas after arriving to Australia by boat in 2013 - and have since built a luxury life in Sydney's north-west with their two daughters. Melbourne: Sudanese Youths Account for 0.1 Per Cent of the Population, But 8.6 Per Cent of Home Invasions 22 January [Breitbart] Aggravated burglary has become the “crime of choice” for Sudanese youths in Melbourne, Australia, according to senior police officers. 'You've got to obey our laws and respect out way of life': Former PM Tony Abbott blasts Melbourne's 'ethnic gangs' as he calls for a massive cut in Australia's immigration intake 21/02/18 [DailyMail] Tony Abbott has blasted Melbourne's African gang crime as he called for a dramatic reduction in Australia's annual immigration intake. The former PM said they were 'causing mayhem'. Why was she let in? Bangladeshi student was DENIED entry to Turkey but was granted an Australian visa before she was charged over 'ISIS-inspired' stabbing 16/02/18 [DailyMail] Bangladesh counter-terrorism authorities said Momena Shoma, 24, was refused a Turkish visa in late 2014 before winning her Australian study visa and travelling to Melbourne on February 1. Deportations Proposed as African Street Gangs Invade Homes, Terrorise Residents in Melbourne 8 January [Breitbart] Australia is considering new measures to deport criminal migrants as young as 16, following a spate of violent home invasions and street robberies.

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Down Under

Man Jailed 44 Years for Supplying Gun in Australia Shooting Makes IS Salute

2018-03-02

[AnNahar] A man who supplied a radicalized teenager with a gun to shoot dead an Australian police employee made an Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group salute as he was placed in durance vile ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... for 44 years Thursday. Raban Alou admitted obtaining and giving a handgun to 15-year-old Farhad Mohammad ...the bullied basketballer who is also in our archives as Farhad Jabar and Farhad Khalil Mohammad Jabar... at a Sydney mosque in 2015. The teenager then shot Curtis Cheng in the back of the head outside the New South Wales police headquarters. Mohammad, who authorities at the time said was born in Iran of Iraqi and Kurdish background, was shot and killed in an exchange of fire with police special constables soon after. Alou, 20, was sentenced to a maximum of 44 years behind bars, with a non-parole period of 33 years, at the NSW Supreme Court after pleading guilty to aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring a terrorist act. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said he gave an Islamic State salute -- with one finger pointing skywards -- and shouted "this is only the beginning" as he was led away. In his sentencing remarks, Justice Peter Johnson said Alou had shown no remorse. "The offender's response is devoid of basic humanity," he said, ABC reported. "The offender was a very active planner and participant in this offence. "Unless the offender had obtained the firearm and supplied it to Farhad Mohammad, this crime would not have been committed." Canberra is concerned about the prospect of lone-wolf attacks by individuals inspired by groups such as Islamic State, and lifted its terror threat alert to high in 2014. Since then, 85 people have been charged as a result of 36 counter-terrorism related operations around the country, police said earlier this month. At least 14 attacks have been prevented in the past few years, although several have taken place. REVEALED: How the Department of Juvenile Justice said Islam was GOOD for teenage jihadi who went on to help murder Curtis Cheng in a terror attack [DailyMail] Alou was in trouble with the law for much of his teenage life, with several convictions including for robbery, armed robbery, possessing a knife in a public place and a raft of driving offences. He was supervised by the Department of Juvenile Justice at Blacktown, New South Wales since 14 March 2014. In January 2015, the department lauded the fact he had become more dedicated to Islam. A report praised Alou for 'getting more involved in his religion, stopping his cannabis use and disassociating himself from his negative peer group'. Just nine months later he aided an ISIS-inspired terror attack which saw father-of-two Mr Curtis shot in the back of the head while leaving work. The sentencing report also reveals that Alou was a member of an ISIS supporters' WhatsApp group where he posted sick messages praising the terror cell's recent atrocities. The group was called 'The Bricks' and used the ISIS flag as its icon. The judge's report also details how Alou manged to procure the Smith & Wesson .38 revolver before handing it over to Jabad at Parramatta Mosque on the day of the attack. He tried two different contacts before a third eventually agreed to source the weapon for him. In one chilling message with an unnamed friend, Alou asked to borrow $100 to buy the gun. Handwriting analysis found the note found in Cheng’s pocket after he was murdered was written by Jabad's older sister Shadi Mohammad, 21, who played a major part in radicalising him. Before Jabad's attack, she fled to Turkey where she made her way to Syria to marry an ISIS fighter before being killed in an air strike in 2016.

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Down Under

More about Somali-Australian wannabe jihadi Ali Ali

2017-11-30

More on this story from a few days ago. [DailyMail] The Somali-Australian man was incarcerated You have the right to remain silent... for allegedly plotting an ISIS-inspired New Year's Eve attack. Ali Khalif Shire Ali Let us all be glad his parents were not so terribly unimaginative as to really name him Ali Ali, as he was previously identified. was dramatically arrested on Monday and charged with trying to obtain a semi-automatic rifle to gun down revellers in Melbourne's Federation Square. Ali, 20, was reportedly targeted by ASIO because of his links to a radicalised 15-year-old boy who killed Curtis Cheng. He was well-connected to Australian jihadist circles including multiple other terror suspects and bad boy preacher Junaid Thorne. Ali was also friends with Farhad Jabar, 15, who rubbed out NSW police accountant Curtis Cheng outside the police centre in Parramatta in 2015. He once boasted to a group of Islamic gunnies about how he had refused to speak to ASIO agents who offered him money for information about his links to Jabar. Ali claimed agents offered him $200 for every tip he gave them about bad boy activity in his community, but he refused to dob in Moslems because it was 'haram'. 'I know their tricks and whatever you say to them they will use as evidence against you,' Ali said. 'They start to get to the real questions, like who are your friends with, what do you think about ISIS, what are your thoughts about those groups.

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Down Under

Australia migrant colonist briefs

2017-05-21

'They've got lots of tricks up their sleeves': Refugee advocate claims there are up to 6,000 FAKE Iranian refugees in Australia – who were given visas based on lies 18/05/17 [DailyMail] An Iranian-born refugee advocate Cyrous Sarang believes 6,000 fake Iranian refugees have been given Australian visas during the past 17 years. 'They were brainwashing the kids': Primary school teacher who received death threats from 11 year old Muslim students claims ABC youth program Behind the News is 'sympathetic' to Islamic State terrorists 17/05/17 [DailyMail] A former teacher at Punchbowl Public School says the ABC program Behind the News (BtN), which is broadcast to school students in class, is so left-wing it serves as Islamic State propaganda Manus Island refugees fear RIOTS as officials prepare to shut down the detention centre 'within weeks' 16/05/17 [DailyMail] Parts of Australian-run Manus Island detention centre will be closed within weeks ahead of its final closure, prompting refugees to fear riots will break out Six Iranian refugees granted Australian visas after claiming they were too scared to go home - but were were later caught holidaying there 15/05/17 [DailyMail] A group of six Iranian refugees who were granted protection visas in Australia after claiming they could be killed if they returned have been caught holidaying in their homeland 'It was scary for me and the other students': Sydney teacher says Muslim pupils as young as 10 wore ISIS shirts to school, waved terrorist flags and circled around her reciting the Koran. 12/05/17 [DailyMail] A primary school teacher in Sydney's west has spoken of how radicalised Muslim boys wore ISIS shirts to class and circled around her menacingly reciting the Koran. She won't stand for anyone but Allah: ISIS recruiter's wife charged with 'disrespecting' a judge – but faces no penalty for refusing to remove her face-covering veil to give evidence 09/05/17 [DailyMail] Moutiaa Elzahed, wife of ISIS recruiter Hamdi Alqudsi has been charged with nine counts of disrespectful behaviour, after refusing to stand for a NSW district court judge during civil court proceedings last Jihadi bride sister of Curtis Cheng's killer fled Australia ONE DAY before the Sydney police worker was murdered - to marry an ISIS terrorist in Syria 05/05/17 [DailyMail] The day before Farhad Jabar murdered Curtis Cheng outside Parramatta police headquarters, his sister Shadi Jabar, 20, fled Australia to Syria where she married an ISIS fighter and eventually died. Iraqi refugee, 35, 'used asylum seeker friends he met at Christmas Island detention centre as passengers in staged minibus crash - so he could make $1.2million insurance claim' 04/05/17 [DailyMail] An Iraqi asylum seeker allegedly staged minibus crash to rip off Australian insurance companies $1.2 million after using refugees from Christmas Island Detention Centre as passengers.

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Down Under

Two known wolf yoots remanded into custody after arrested in Sidney with knives and notes pledging to ISIS

2016-10-13

[ABC.au] Two 16-year old teenagers were placed in durance vile You have the right to remain silent... by the state's Joint Counter-Terrorism Team at Bankstown in Sydney yesterday, in the lane behind a Moslem prayer hall. They were found in possession of two large bayonet-style knives, bought earlier that day, and religious notes that allegedly pledged allegiance to Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... One of the boys is a relative of Hamdi Alqudsi ..the 42-year old, two-wived, Sydney grandfather who recently met his just reward... , who has been enjugged Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! for helping young Australians travel to Syria to fight in the country's civil war. The pair did not appear in Parramatta Children's Court this morning and did not apply for bail, and it was formally refused. In opposing bail, police said the pair posed an unacceptable risk to the community. They are due to return to court in December, unless they apply for bail before then. One of the two facing terrorism-related charges in Sydney allegedly referenced the murder of NSW Police employee Curtis Cheng, telling his mother he would do "something to them that they have never seen before". Photo of the moving black object labelled as his mother can be seen at the link. Police have alleged the teenager attended a protest four years ago at Hyde Park. "He allus been trouble, yer honour!" Police said the teenager's co-accused had shown no remorse for his actions, and while in jug could be seen laughing and joking. According to the documents, he was stopped by authorities while attempting to enter a region that is controlled by an internationally recognised terror group. "The Turks caught 'im trying to sneak into Syria, yer honour, so they sent 'im home." It is also alleged that when he returned to Australia he was found in possession of electronic material believed to have been produced by Islamic State. At a presser this morning, police said the boys had been charged with acts in preparation to commit a terrorist act and with having membership with a terrorist organization. "Those charges are extremely serious charges with the acts in preparation to commit a terrorist act with a maximum of life imprisonment," NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn said. Police said they were "well aware" of the teenagers. "We will be alleging this attack was inspired by Islamic State," she said. "What we do know, though, is that the actions, we will allege, were enough to say they were preparing to do an attack, although we don't know specifically where that attack was going to take place," Deputy Commissioner Burn said. She said it was is "the 11th imminent attack... we have prevented in this country. There have been four attacks, three have been in NSW". As part of their operation, officers searched a number of homes and also a prayer hall.

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Down Under

Breaking: Attempted attack at Sydney police station

2016-07-21

[News.com.au] A man has been arrested after driving a car full of gas cylinders into a western Sydney police station. The man drove into the underground car park of Merrylands Police Station and reportedly tried to set himself and his vehicle alight about 7pm on Thursday. He was arrested about an hour later after a tense stand-off with police. A witness has reported seeing someone being stretchered away from the Memorial Avenue scene as police and emergency crews swarmed the building. A large exclusion zone has been established as bomb squad officers examine the man's vehicle. No police officers or members of the public were injured during the incident, according to NSW Police. The alleged attacker has been taken to Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital in a serious condition. The possible motivation for the alleged attack remains unclear. "The circumstances regarding the incident are in the early stages of being confirmed and no further details are available at this time," NSW Police said in a statement. Merrylands has been the centre of several terror-related incidents and raids in the past two years. Homes in the suburb were raided in September 2014 over a beheading plot and again 13 months later following the terror-linked shooting of police accountant Curtis Cheng in Parramatta. Talal Alameddine, 22, of Merrylands, was charged with supplying the gun that 15-year-old Farhad Jabar used to kill Mr Cheng. Alameddine's home was one of two properties raided in December last year following reported Facebook threats made against the Merrylands Police Station. NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Denis Clifford is expected to address the media later on Thursday night.

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Down Under

Teen Arrested over Alleged Sydney Terror Plot

2016-05-18

[AnNahar] An 18-year-old man was locked away Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! in Sydney on Tuesday over an alleged "imminent" terror plot, as police raided properties in Melbourne in a separate counter-terrorism operation, officials said. Australian Federal Police claimed the teenager was scouting possible sites in Sydney to undertake an attack while at the same time trying to acquire a firearm. In February he had been stopped at Sydney airport as he attempted to leave for Syria, despite his passport being cancelled, to allegedly fight overseas with jihadist groups. "Since that time, he has been under the surveillance of the relevant authorities who have decided this morning to act to prevent an imminent terrorist event," Attorney-General George Brandis told news hounds, without giving precise details of potential targets. The teen, from Sydney, was expected to be charged with acting in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act, which has a maximum penalty of life in prison. He will also likely be charged with "preparing for an act of foreign incursion". "This is the ninth occasion since the national terrorism alert level was raised (to high) in September 2014 that police have successfully intervened to prevent an imminent terrorism event on Australian soil," Brandis added. Counter-terror police have made a string of arrests since late 2014, including a 16-year-old boy charged with preparing an attack linked to Anzac Day services honouring Australian soldiers in Sydney in April. Other arrests saw a 17-year-old boy picked up in a raid in Melbourne a year ago, allegedly with "improvised bombs" in his family home. Officials said Tuesday's arrest had no connection to police raids carried out in the southern city of Melbourne, part of an operation connected to five men detained last week over an apparent plan to leave the country by boat. Police have alleged that the five -- aged in their twenties and thirties -- wanted to travel by boat to Indonesia and from there make their way to Syria to join jihadist groups. The government has passed numerous national security laws including legislation allowing passports to be cancelled to prevent Australians from leaving the country. But police have been unable to prevent all attacks, including the terror-linked murder of police employee Curtis Cheng by a teenager last October.

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Iraq

Australia says most dangerous Australian ISIS operative killed

2016-05-06

[Ynet] Australia's most dangerous known Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... movement operative had been killed in a US Arclight airstrike in Iraq, the government said Thursday. The United States had confirmed that Neil Prakash, also known as Abu Khaled al-Cambodi, was killed in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... on Friday, Attorney-General George Brandis said. The 24-year-old Australian citizen of Cambodian and Fijian heritage converted from Buddhism in 2012 and traveled to Syria a year later. The former rapper from Melbourne city featured in Islamic State recruitment videos, was linked to several attack plans in Australia and had urged lone wolf attacks against the United States. "Prakash was a very important, high-value target," Brandis told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. "He was the most dangerous Australian involved with ISIS in the Middle East," Brandis added, referring to the faceless myrmidons as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... An Nahar adds: Attorney General George Brandis said Washington had told Canberra that Prakash died in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , Iraq, on April 29 after Australia provided intelligence on his identity and location. Prakash was linked to an alleged terror plot on Anzac Day last year, when Australia honors its war dead. Since the start of their campaign, the U.S. military and its coalition partners have launched more than 12,000 air strikes against Islamic State and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said more Australians were in their sights. U.S. authorities also told the government that Australian woman Shadi Jabar Khalil Mohammad was killed in an air strike near the Syrian city of Al-Bab on April 22, along with her Sudanese husband. "Mohammad and her husband, Abu Sa'ad al-Sudani, were both active recruiters of imported muscle on behalf of ISIS, and had been inspiring attacks against Western interests," said Brandis. She was the sister of Farhad Jabar, a 15-year-old who rubbed out police employee Curtis Cheng in Sydney last October. The teenager was killed in gunfire shortly afterwards. Brandis said that between 50 and 59 Australians had so far been killed fighting for jihadists in Iraq or Syria. At least 110 more are still battling with Islamic State.

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Down Under

Australia Arrests Two Planning to Target Naval Base

2015-12-24

[ALMANAR.LB] Two men were nabbed Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! on Wednesday during a counter-terrorism operation in Sydney, with a key Australian naval base among locations they were allegedly targeting, police said. Their detention comes just weeks after five people were held over a plot aimed at an Australian government building. Following the latest raids, Abdullah Salihy, 24, was charged with making a document likely to facilitate a terrorist attack while Mohammad Almaouie, 20, was accused of conspiracy to "do an act in preparation to commit a terrorist act". Both were refused bail. Their arrests are part of Appleby, a rolling operation investigating people suspected of being involved in domestic acts of terrorism, Australians fighting in Syria and Iraq and the funding of terrorist organizations. So far, 11 other people have been charged with terror-related offences since Appleby was set up last year. Police have been focusing on a group of about 20 young men who they claim are committed to carrying out a terrorist attack in Australia. Burn said the 20-year-old arrested Wednesday was associated with five men, including a 15-year-old boy, charged earlier this month over a plot targeting a government building, which also stemmed from evidence uncovered last year. Authorities have been on high alert for potential attacks since last year. Six attacks in Australia have been foiled over the past year, according to the government, but several have taken place, including the terror-linked murder of police employee Curtis Cheng in October.

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Down Under

How I saw Farhad Jabar change a week before he became a killer

2015-10-08

[The Guardian] In his last weeks, Farhad Jabar started skipping school. Most mornings, in his school uniform, he would turn up alone to Parramatta mosque. That's where Isaac first saw him. But according to the Champ, this sort of violence only happens in the States. "I attend the mosque on a daily basis as I'm walking to work. In the morning it's quite empty," Isaac says. "In the last two or three months I noticed this young person." A week after the death of Curtis Cheng, students at Arthur Phillip High School have remembered Jabar as quietly devout, a talented basketballer and a friendly but private classmate. But what drove the teenager -- a timid, withdrawn 15-year-old with no history of violence -- remains a mystery. Isaac, who asked for his real name to be withheld after calls by rightwing groups for attacks on Muslims, agreed to share with Guardian Australia his impressions of the young man he met in the mosque that day, and got to know over the next few months, until a "bizarre, concerning" final encounter a fortnight ago. Jabar, in his school uniform, "stuck out" in Parramatta mosque the first morning he met Isaac. "He was just hanging out there, reading books, praying," he says. "It was 9am, he should have been in school ... It's not normal behaviour to isolate yourself." Their first encounters were frosty, but gradually the 15-year-old opened up. "He told me things weren't going well at school, he wasn't interested in school any more, that he was being bullied. He said he didn't like it any more. He wasn't interested because he wasn't feeling good. "He spoke about it with a sense of sorrow," he says. Isaac became concerned about the boy's mental health. "Sometimes he would be quite bubbly. Sometimes he would be quite withdrawn. And those are typical signs of all sorts of mental health conditions, especially young people," Isaac says. "I presented my concerns to psychologists and other professionals and got some feedback. And the feedback was, these were depressive symptoms, these were symptoms of trauma, of anxiety."

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Down Under

Three of four released after Sydney raids

2015-10-08

[SKYNEWS.AU] Three of the four people incarcerated Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! in pre-dawn raids in Sydney's west have been released from custody as investigations into the killing of NSW police employee Curtis Cheng continue. An 18-year-old man who was arrested at a home in Wentworthville remains in jug. It comes after more than 200 armed officers raided homes in Guilford, Wentworthville, Merrylands and Marsfield at 6am on Wednesday, arresting four males aged between 16 and 22. The 16-year-old and two 22-year-old men have been released from custody, a police spokeswoman said on Thursday. The 16-year-old and 18-year-old were from Wentworthville; one 22-year-old was from Merrylands and the other was from Marsfield, police said. They included past and present students of Arthur Phillip High School, the school attended by 15-year-old Farhad Khalil Mohammad Jabar, who bumped off Sydney police accountant Curtis Cheng in a Parramatta street on Friday. A 17-year-old boy arrested and charged on Tuesday is also a student at the school. Authorities are almost certain Jabar did not act alone. At least three of the four who were arrested on Wednesday were also targeted in the sweeping September 2014 terror raids across western Sydney. NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn said authorities suspect those arrested have some knowledge of Friday's shooting and could have influenced Jabar. Investigations into Jabar's motivation continue, but Ms Burn told news hounds on Wednesday it's suspected 'there was some influence' that was of an ideological, religious or political nature.

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