Members of the Sydney group arrested in Australia's biggest counter-terrorism operation are alleged to have stockpiled enough chemicals to make at least 15 large bombs. Chemicals freely available at hardware stores were all that was still needed for the group to replicate the formula used to make the bombs that killed 52 people, and four suicide bombers, in the July 7 London attacks, senior police said yesterday.
They said the group had registered a series of company names to justify the purchase of industrial chemicals.
Seventeen men have been arrested and charged after raids in the early hours of Tuesday involving 400 federal, Victorian and NSW police. Two of the suspects, Abdulla Merhi, 20, and Hany Taha, 31, were denied bail in Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday and remanded with the others to appear in court next January.
During the hearing, the court heard evidence that a Melbourne office tower housing Commonwealth public servants may have been a potential target for attack. The court was told that a map of the building, Casselden Place, on the corner of Lonsdale and Spring Streets, had been found during investigations leading up to this week's arrests. The building houses hundreds of public servants from key federal agencies including the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Immigration.
Brian Walters, SC, representing Taha, said there was no basis to the claim that a terrorist attack in Melbourne was imminent. Rob Stary, for Merhi, who is alleged to have volunteered to become a suicide bomber, said comments by senior police and politicians had effectively removed the presumption of innocence for the accused men.
Magistrate Reg Marron, refusing bail, said evidence of the alleged plot for violent jihad was "extremely alarming". Mr Marron also noted the ease with which the internet offered access to the bomb-making instructions allegedly seen by one of the terror cells.
The final decision to raid dozens of properties in Melbourne and Sydney on Tuesday was made at the weekend after police concluded that the Sydney men were sufficiently advanced in their planning to have produced bombs within days. There were nine arrests in Melbourne and eight in Sydney, where one suspect was shot after allegedly firing at police. The wounded man, former bit-part television actor Omar Baladjam, 28, was charged yesterday during a bedside court hearing at Liverpool Hospital. Charges against him include attempting to murder police and terrorism and firearms offences.
The other Sydney suspects, who have been charged with plotting a terrorist act, were transferred to high-security jails outside the city last night. Two high-speed police convoys headed towards prisons at Goulburn and Lithgow. The Melbourne suspects, who are being held at the maximum security Barwon Prison, are charged with knowingly belonging to a terrorist organisation. The alleged leader of both groups, Melbourne Muslim cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika, also faces a charge of directing a terrorist organisation.
Victoria Police acting Deputy Commissioner Noel Ashby said the Melbourne suspects could face further charges following examination of material on seized computers. "There is an immense amount of material that we need to look at," he said. Mr Stary confirmed moves to defer the trial of another terror suspect, Joseph Terrence Thomas, of Werribee, due to this week's developments. "There will be an application to adjourn the proceedings on the basis of Mr Thomas' capacity to have a fair trial in the present environment," Mr Stary said. Sydney lawyer Adam Houda lashed out at what he called "trial by media" and irresponsible comments by politicians.
A spokeswoman for Victorian Corrections Commissioner Kelvin Anderson said prison authorities had spent $11 million to introduce new technology to prepare for high-risk prisoners such as those associated with organised crime and terrorist allegations. The arrested men, who are being held in solitary confinement, would receive a diet in keeping with Islamic beliefs, he said.
Police said they had learned that suspects in Melbourne and Sydney had recently made legal appointments, leading intelligence analysts to suspect the men may have been planning to write wills before a terrorist attack. Aldo Borgu, of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said that some suicide bombers had been known to organise their affairs before acting, but it was difficult to profile them because their motives were often individual. "It's been known (for suicide bombers to make a will), but we don't know how common it is, or even if it is a majority thing," Mr Borgu said.
It is believed that Victorian police had gathered sufficient evidence as part of Operation Pendennis to arrest the Melbourne suspects at least a month ago, but waited for more information to be gathered on the Sydney cell before the co-ordinated raids were launched. Police are now using technology experts to try to break codes on the computer hard drives of some of the suspects to gather further information. |
THE first person in Australia to be convicted under new terrorism laws has been sentenced to five years' jail. Muslim convert and former Melbourne taxi driver, Joseph Terrence Thomas, was found guilty of intentionally receiving funds from al-Qaeda and holding a false passport. Supreme Court Justice Philip Cummins sentenced the 32-year-old to five years' jail, with a minimum of two years. Thomas, of suburban Werribee, was the first Australian to be charged under new terrorism laws and the fifth charged under anti-terrorism legislation passed by federal Parliament in October 2002.
ACCUSED terrorist 
A court has heard allegations that a Victorian man was asked to return to Australia as a sleeper for the terrorist group, Al Qaeda. A trial has begun for 32-year-old 
Cardiologist