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Mass Counter-Terror Raids In Australia

2014-09-18

[DailyTelegraphAustralia] o Massive pre-dawn operation in Sydney and Brisbane involving 600 officers o ASIO and counter-terrorism operation swooped on homes in north-western Sydney and Brisbane o Several arrests made as raids continue ASIO and counter terrorism police have swooped on homes across north-western Sydney and other states this morning in what is believed to be the largest anti-terrorism bust in the nation's history. Several arrests have reportedly been made in the secret pre-dawn raid, which is still in progress. The arrests follow the execution of a number of search warrants in Beecroft, Bellavista, Guildford, Merrylands, Northmead, Wentworthville, Marsfield, Westmead, Castle Hill, Revesby, Bass Hill and Regents Park. The Australian Federal Police can also confirm it is conducting search warrants in Brisbane. Warrants are being executed in the suburbs of Mount Gravatt East, Logan and Underwood. As this activity remains ongoing, it is not appropriate to comment further at this time. Further updates will be provided in due course. The raid is believed to have been mounted following months of surveillance of people linked to the terrorist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The Daily Telegraph has learned that an estimated 600 officers from the Australian Federal Police, NSW counter terrorism unit and ASIO launched the pre-emptive strike in the early hours of this morning. The raids and arrests are believed to have been based on the execution of multiple ASIO and AFP warrants. It is believed that dozens of suspects have been netted, with links to a Brisbane man who was recently arrested on suspected terrorism related charges. It is believed that a terrorist network had been planning to carry out a series of attacks in Australia. The raid follows the lifting of the national security alert level from medium to high last Friday by the outgoing director general of ASIO David Irvine. It is believed the size of the raid eclipsed that of Operation Pendennis in 2005 when several hundred ASIO, AFP and NSW police arrested 13 men across Melbourne and the Sydney suburb of Bankstown, who had been planning bomb attacks in both capitals. Update at 7:37 ET from Australia's 9News: UPDATE: Former actor and "senior ISIL figure" Mohammed Baryalei named as man behind alleged Sydney beheading plot Sydney terror accused Omarjan Azari was allegedly working with Australia's most senior ISIL member and Underbelly actor Mohammad Baryalei to commit acts of terror, police have said. Mr Azari faced Central Local Court today charged with serious terrorism-related offences. 9NEWS understands Mr Azari is accused of plotting to abduct people off the streets and decapitate them in a manner similar to the recent ISIL beheadings of US and UK citizens in Syria. Mr Azari allegedly intended to wrap the bodies of victims in ISIL flags and upload video of the murders online. The video would help fuel the ISIL terror campaign which has led to the formation of an international coalition to eliminate the group. Court documents showed police have accused Mr Azari of working with Baryalei, Fairfax Media has reported. Baryalei, 33, is believed by authorities to be a senior ISIL member who recruited at least half of the Australians fighting with the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria. He was a former bouncer and played a paramedic on Underbelly: The Golden Mile. Police said raids across Sydney this morning thwarted a plan to commit violence against "a member of the public on the streets". Fifteen people were detained after over 800 police officers searched 15 homes and 10 cars in north-western Sydney, in a joint AFP and NSW Police counter-terrorism operation called "Operation Appleby". Azari was the first person to be charged following the raids. He did not apply for bail today and will remain in custody until the case returns to court in November. A second man has since been charged with weapons offences. Prime Minister Tony Abbott said it's believed an Australian senior ISIL member overseas was ordering networks back in Australia to conduct "demonstration killings". Police raids this morning were also carried out in suburbs in and around Brisbane but police said they weren't directly linked to the operation in Sydney. AFP Acting Chief Commissioner Andrew Colvin said the operation was following up on an investigation from last week. He said they were still working to determine links between the Brisbane and Sydney raids. Last week, Brisbane man Omar Succarieh, 31, was arrested and charged with terrorism-related offences following a raid at an Islamic bookshop in Logan. He's accused of fundraising for Syria-based extremist group Jabhat al-Nusra and helping another man, Agim Kruezi, obtain funds to fight for a terror organisation overseas. Mr Succarieh, who is due to apply for bail in court today, is believed to be the brother of Ahmed Succarieh, who reportedly became Australia's first suicide bomber in Syria last year. Logan man Kruezi, 22, has alleged links to the Islamic State group. Yesterday, a Lakemba money transfer business owned by the sister and brother-in-law of convicted Sydney terrorist Khaled Sharrouf was shut down. Authorities suspected it was sending millions of dollars to the Middle East to finance terrorism. There are about 60 Australians believed to be fighting in Iraq and Syria with groups such as Islamic State, while another 100 are suspected of providing support from Australia. Mr Abbott lifted the country's terror alert to high last Friday. Today he praised Australian police and security forces who he said were "one step ahead of those who would do us harm".

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Terror's new breeding ground

2010-02-28

Late last year, under the watchful eye of Australia's security services, Sydney man "Abdullah" boarded a plane out of Mascot airport, bound for the Middle East. An associate of the nine-man cell that was recently convicted of preparing for a terrorist act in Sydney, the man had been under close surveillance for several years. But on this occasion, it was his destination that set red lights flashing in counter-terrorism circles. He was travelling to Yemen, now regarded among CT professionals as "the new Afghanistan" for al-Qa'ida, and a magnet for Australian and other Western supporters of the global jihadist cause. Abdullah was one of at least 20 Australians known to have travelled to Yemen in recent years, whose movements are being monitored by ASIO and counter-terrorism police. The group includes several people with links to the convicted terrorists who were sentenced last Monday in Sydney to up to 28 years in jail. Their activities illustrate a key point of the federal government's white paper on counter-terrorism released last week: that successes against al-Qa'ida and its affiliates in Afghanistan and Pakistan have been offset by the rise of militancy elsewhere, most notably in Yemen and neighbouring Somalia. And Australia is directly at risk as a result. Australia's ambassador for counter-terrorism Bill Paterson reinforced the point at a national security conference in Sydney on Thursday, saying Yemen and North Africa have become "new safe havens" for global jihadists. "Yemen especially is at risk of becoming a magnet for radicalised individuals from elsewhere to join together to train and perhaps take the step from radicalism to violent extremism, and then to project back into other parts of the globe," Paterson says. Equally worrying for the authorities are contacts between certain suspected radicals in Australia and the newly notorious American-born Yemeni-based cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. To the concern of Australian authorities, counter-terrorism agencies have monitored a stream of communications between Awlaki's group in Yemen and a small circle of followers in Australia. The contacts include mobile phone and email messages. Videotaped copies of Awlaki's sermons, in which he espouses the cause of violent jihad, have also been circulated among this group. "His teachings are of great concern to us," Detective Superintendent John O'Reilly, Commander of the NSW Police Counter-Terrorism and Special Tactics Operations Group, tells The Australian. The activities of Abdullah, who has not returned to Australia since his recent trip to Yemen, illustrate why Australian authorities are so concerned. Abdullah had only recently had his passport returned by ASIO, after it was confiscated when he was judged "likely to support or participate in acts of politically motivated violence". ASIO's interest in him dates back to 2000 when, after doing the haj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, he continued to Pakistan with a group of friends from Sydney who went on to train with the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba, which had not at that stage been banned in Australia. When interviewed later by the Australian Federal Police, Abdullah denied undergoing training. However former Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks told the AFP that he and Abdullah trained in the same camp at the same time. Abdullah was interviewed by ASIO seven times between 2000 and 2004, and several more times after that date. His home was raided in 2002 and again in 2005. The agency's interest was piqued by the fact he was working at the Indo-Malay halal butchery in Lakemba in Sydney's southwest, which was run by an Indonesian-Australian identified as the deputy leader of the Australian branch of the Indonesian militant group, Jemaah Islamiah. The butchery, which was under surveillance and had its phones tapped, was also a contact point for the French terrorist Willie Brigitte in 2003. Abdullah was investigated again during Operation Pendennis, which resulted in the arrests and convictions of the nine-man Sydney terror cell, the last of whom were sentenced last week. Evidence produced by the crown revealed that Abdullah had been involved in the purchase of laboratory equipment with one of the cell members. He claimed it was for use in his perfume business. However, judge Anthony Whealy said in his sentencing remarks that the equipment "was plainly to be used for the purposes of the conspiracy". The police were keen to charge Abdullah but the evidence against him was deemed to be weaker than that against the nine men who were ultimately charged. Abdullah had first planned to move to Yemen with his wife and eight children in 2004, but his passport was confiscated by ASIO on the eve of his departure. He told ASIO his visa to Yemen had been arranged by a friend from Sydney, a Polish-born Australian, Marek Samulski, who was already living in Yemen. Samulski was arrested in the Yemeni capital Sanaa in October 2006, and accused by Yemeni police of being part of an al-Qa'ida ring that was funnelling weapons to the Islamist insurgency in neighbouring Somalia. Two other Australians, who had long been of keen interest to security agencies, were also detained in the Sanaa raid. They were two brothers, Mustafa and Ilyas bin Ayub, the sons of one-time Australian JI leader, Abdul Rahim Ayub, and his former wife, Sydney woman Rabiah Hutchinson. The brothers had travelled to Yemen to undertake Islamic studies and lived in the same apartment block as Samulski. The Yemeni Interior Ministry claimed initially that the three Australians had confessed to involvement in al-Qa'ida weapons smuggling. But the Ayub brothers were released without charge after seven weeks, when their Yemeni lawyer announced that the allegations against them had been found to be false. Samulski was detained for longer while his file was referred to terrorism prosecutors for possible charges. But he too was ultimately released without charge. He has not returned to Australia since.

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Bikie gang linked with rocket 'plot'

2007-01-09

POLICE investigating an alleged terrorist plot using stolen Australian army rocket launchers are close to arresting more suspects, including a member of Australia's biggest outlaw motorcycle gang. Toecutter lives! The Rebels bikie from Sydney's southwest is one of several people suspected of playing a part in a stolen weapons trail leading to alleged Sydney arms dealer Taha Abdulrahman and his clients - one of whom is a terror suspect. It is believed that police are close to making a number of further arrests in connection with the illegal sale of the anti-tank weapons which police allege were intended to be used to attack targets including the American Express headquarters in Sydney. Mr Abdulrahman, 28, was arrested and charged on Friday with 17 offences, including unauthorised possession of a prohibited weapon and unauthorised supply of a prohibited weapon. The charges relate to five shoulder-mounted, anti-tank rocket launchers among seven allegedly stolen from the army. Police have recovered one of the launchers after cutting a deal with Sydney underworld figure Adnan Darwiche, who is serving a double life sentence for murder. "Give em up, Adnan, and we'll cut one lifetime off your sentance" It has been revealed that the Darwiche family, which was caught up in a string of shootings in western Sydney stemming from a feud with the rival Razzak family, had access to some of the rocket launchers. Five of the stolen rocket launchers are believed to have been sold to a Sydney man who is now facing terrorism charges. Community sources have said that a member of one Middle Eastern crime family has privately boasted of possession of at least one rocket launcher. No doubt a holy relic handed down from his granpa Police said last week that Mr Abdulrahman had no immediate connections to the Australian Defence Force and that no ADF members were said to be under investigation at this point. But the focus of the police investigation is now on how the weapons were moved from the army to the Rebels, Mr Abdulrahman and then into the hands of a potential terrorist cell. But NSW Police Assistant Commissioner for Counter Terrorism Nick Kaldas said the arrest last week of Mr Abdulrahman was "one phase of the operation". "It is by no means the end of the investigation. A number of significant lines of inquiry are being actively pursued and that effort will be sustained until the matter is resolved," Mr Kaldas said. Mr Abdulrahman is accused of knowing several of the 23 terror suspects arrested in Sydney and Melbourne in late 2005 during the nation's biggest counter-terrorism sweep, known as Operation Pendennis. But how he may be allegedly linked to the Rebels bikie gang is still being investigated. In recent years there has been a rise in the number of Middle Eastern Australians joining motorcycle gangs but experts say they have been mainly swelling the ranks of rival clubs, such as the Nomads. And here we thought all those jokes about this war loking like scenes from "Mad Max" were just jokes... Former federal agent turned academic Michael Kennedy said the links between the Rebels and the Middle Eastern community in southwest Sydney were likely to be more entrepreneurial. Dr Kennedy said the Rebels members would know "someone" who would know someone else who could move the weapons on the black market. Biker gangs seem to be the same worldwide Last week police said they would allege one of the 66mm portable rocket launchers was destined to be fired at a Sydney target. Australia's only nuclear reactor and the Australian headquarters of AmEx in Sydney were touted as among the likely targets for Mr Adbulrahman's alleged terrorist clients. Or on each other. The biker gangs in Scandinavia use RPGs on each other all the time The country's intelligence and spy agencies are conducting a nationwide audit of the defence forces' weapons and munitions stocks.

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Rabiyah and daughter married terror twins

2006-12-11

AUSTRALIA'S most watched woman, Rabiyah Hutchinson, and her eldest daughter were once at the apex of Jemaah Islamiah's first known attempt at setting up a terror cell in Australia. An investigation by The Australian has revealed that Ms Hutchinson, who married JI leader Abdul Rahim Ayub, also married off her eldest daughter to her husband's twin brother, the Afghani-trained jihadist Abdul Rahman Ayub. The Australian has been told the daughter was about 16 at the time of the marriage to her uncle, who had been sent to Australia with his brother to set up the JI cell known as Mantiqi4. When approached by The Australian last week, Abdul Rahman Ayub refused to comment on the marriage. It is understood the marriage was shortlived and that the couple had no children. "So why'd you get a divorce, Abdul?" "I hated her guts." It has also been discovered that Ms Hutchinson, now 53, has been married eight times -- twice to suspected terror leaders. When she married in 1984, Abdul Rahim Ayub was her third husband. The one before that was the guy with the hat. After they broke up in 1996 she remarried several times. In 2000 she married an al-Qa'ida member and confidant of Osama bin Laden, the Egyptian-born Mustafa Hamid, or Abu al Walid al-Masri. At the time, Hamid was a senior member of al-Qa'ida and worked closely with bin Laden, but later split with him over ideological differences. "Binny! Are you tryin' to get us all killed?" "If y'don't like it, get the hell out!" "Well, I don't like it!" "Throw him out, boyz!" The blonde Ms Hutchinson's marriages, her good looks and startling blue eyes have prompted some to refer to her as the Elizabeth Taylor of JI. But a member of the Islamic community in which she lived in Sydney said Ms Hutchinson was widely disliked and her views were considered archaic. "She was very anti-Western," he told The Australian. He said there was also an oft-recounted story about her days in Afghanistan in the 1980s during the war against Soviet forces. "She was considered such a troublemaker the mujaheddin wanted to kill her," he said. "Mahmoud! Let me borrow your rocket launcher! I'm going to kill that woman!" "But why, Ahmed?" "I hate her guts!" The story went that it was her brother-in-law, Abdul Rahman Ayub, who saved her. On another trip to Afghanistan at the time, Ms Hutchinson was accompanied by her then husband, Abdul Rahim Ayub. Ms Hutchinson, through her lawyer Peter Erman, has declined to comment on the revelations but she has previously denied any involvement in terrorism. "No, no! Certainly not!" "She does not wish to assist you in publishing more lies about her by giving you a detailed response," Mr Erman said in an email. "I got nuttin' to say to youse! Nuttin'" Inquiries by The Australian have revealed that Ms Hutchinson was born Robyn Mary Hutchinson in Mudgee, central-western NSW, in August 1953. The Australian has been told that her parents have died and that her siblings have spread across Australia but she is no longer in touch with them. "They don't like her, either!" After what friends described as an unhappy life she headed to Bali on a holiday in about 1970. She loved Bali, married a Buddhist and stayed on the island. Despite the birth of a daughter, the marriage did not last. The Buddhists couldn't stand her, either, huh? I think we can see a pattern emerging... She moved to Jakarta and then married another Indonesian man, named Bambang Wisudo, and they had two daughters together. The oldest, Suniyah, is living quietly on Sydney's northern beaches, but she does not attend the local mosque or mix with the Islamic community as her mother and stepfather once did. "They remind me too much of me Mum." Suniyah's younger sister, Rahma, was born in 1982 at Manly hospital on Sydney's northern beaches. Rahma was married in 1999 at the age of 16 to Khaled Cheikho, one of the 22 men arrested in Sydney and Melbourne last year during the counter-terrorism Operation Pendennis. Ms Hutchinson married Abdul Rahim Ayub in 1984 and she lived in the Jakarta areas of Tanah Abang and Depok. It is understood Ms Hutchinson speaks Indonesian as well as Arabic and spent much of her time in Indonesia undertaking dawa, or Islamic missionary work. "It's her again, Bambang!" "Close the windows! Pretend we ain't home!" "Gawd, I hate that woman!" Nasir Abas, a former JI member who has turned informer, said he was aware of Rabiyah but knew little about her. "It is the JI culture -- you never know the background of others' wives," he said. "Every once in awhile, of course, you had to ask yourself: 'Where do they get these people?'" Ms Hutchinson and Abdul Rahim Ayub had four children: Mohammed, 21, and Abdullah, 19, Mustafa, 16, and their sister, Aminah. They live together in Yemen with stepsister Rahma. Mohammed and Abdullah and their friend Marek Samulski were released from a Yemeni jail last week seven weeks after they were arrested on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities. No charges were laid against them. "Yez got nuttin' on us, coppers! Da witnesses is all dead!" Mohammed and Abdullah were born in Darwin after Ms Hutchinson and Ayub had returned to Australia in 1985. The family moved to Melbourne, staying in Footscray and West Sunshine until 1990. They moved to Sydney, where she met Jack Roche, the Islamic convert from Perth who became the first person jailed in Australia for terrorism-related offences. After the couple separated, Abdul Rahim Ayub moved to Perth before fleeing the country in the days after the 2002 Bali bombing. Abdul Rahman Ayub was deported to Indonesia on immigration visa offences. "AND STAY OUT, DAMMIT!" Ms Hutchinson then travelled extensively overseas with her children, including visits to Egypt, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Where'd the money come from? Air travel isn't free. She spent several years in Afghanistan, working as a midwife, until the attacks on the US on September 11, 2001. During her time there, she was a conduit for Australians arriving in Afghanistan, and she met "Jihad" Jack Thomas and his wife, Maryati. Since returning to Australia, she has been under constant surveillance by ASIO and has moved at least five times in the past few years. At one of those addresses, in Wiley Park, southwest Sydney, the tenants complained they were still receiving letters addressed to her from Centrelink two years later.

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Families benefit as accused go to jail

2006-05-31

A couple days old; HT Tim Blair. AUSTRALIA'S 22 terror suspects and their families receive more than $1 million a year in taxpayer-funded welfare and legal aid. And simply because the men were locked up, their families received a social security pay rise of as much as $1700 a year. One of the jailed Melbourne men, Abdul Nacer Benbrika -- leader of a radical group of Islamists -- has been in Australia for 10 years and has never had a job. Taxpayers provide his wife with almost $50,000 a year in welfare. A Sunday Herald Sun investigation uncovered generous payments to the families of men charged with plotting terror in Australia. Adding tens of thousands of dollars in parenting payments, rent assistance and family tax benefits to the cost of legal services for the accused makes a total bill to taxpayers of more than $1 million. Since November, 22 allegedly would-be terrorists have been arrested in Melbourne and Sydney under Operation Pendennis, a joint ASIO, AFP and state police forces operation. Mr Benbrika was among 13 Melbourne men charged with belonging to a terrorist organisation. Of Algerian descent, he has a Lebanese-born wife and seven children. Under Centrelink rules, she is entitled to almost $50,000 a year in welfare while her husband is in prison, awaiting trial. Ahmed Raad, another Melbourne suspect, has a child and his wife is entitled to about $21,500 a year, as are the wives of Ezzit Raad and Abdullah Merhi. The wife of another suspect, Hany Taha, who has three children, is entitled to up to $30,000 a year. Among nine Sydney suspects charged with conspiracy to carry out a terrorist attack was engineer Mohamed Ali Elomar, 40. He has five children and his wife is entitled to about $38,000 a year in taxpayer payments. Omar Baladjam, a former actor on the ABC TV program Wildside, has two children. A Centrelink spokeswoman said the fact someone had been jailed for terrorist offences did not stop their spouse or children receiving welfare. The maximum parenting payment increases from $377.50 a fortnight to $444.20 when a spouse is in jail, she said. Two so-called "Anglo" terrorist suspects, Jack "Jihad" Thomas and Shane Kent, also have children and benefit from Centrelink payments. Mr Kent has two children, while Thomas, who is appealing against a conviction for receiving funds from a terrorist organisation, has three children. Victims of crime groups expressed outrage at the payments. People Against Lenient Sentencing president Steve Medcraft said it was an insult to law-abiding battling families. "Why would you get an increased benefit when you go to jail? That's an insult to law and order," Mr Medcraft said. "It never ceases to amaze me the way the system always favours the accused. "You go to jail, get three meals a day and free dental, medical and optical and your family gets an increased benefit." Crime Victims Support Association spokesman Noel McNamara described the payments as disgraceful and said welfare benefits should be suspended when someone was charged with terrorism offences. "It is ludicrous that someone who is an alleged terrorist should receive benefits," he said. "It should be immediately suspended and if they are found not guilty, pay it out then."

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I'd chop up PM, claims 'terrorist'

2006-04-28

AUSTRALIA'S most wanted terror suspect, Saleh Jamal, has pledged loyalty to Osama bin Laden and threatened to "chop up" John Howard as Lebanese authorities prepare to deport him as early as May 8. Jamal's firebrand comments come before his imminent rearrest by Australian police, who will use one of six arrest warrants prepared during his two years in a Beirut prison for firearms trafficking and entering Lebanon on a false passport. The part-time butcher fled Sydney in March 2004 while on trial for five counts of attempted murder during the 1998 shoot-up of the Lakemba police station in the city's southwest. He has since been the subject of intense interest by counter-terrorism police. Jamal was captured in Lebanon after ASIO intercepted a phone call he made to his wife. The spy agency believed the call suggested he planned to become a suicide bomber. Lebanese authorities have told The Australian they will deport Jamal as soon as his two-year sentence expires on May 8, eliminating the need for Australia and Lebanon to sign an extradition treaty. From his Beirut prison, Jamal told The Australian he would fight every step to deport him, insisting he never again wanted to set foot in Australia and describing the Prime Minister as an "evil man". "I feel sorry for the Australian people," Jamal said. "I love Osama bin Laden, I love (al-Qa'ida's leader in Iraq) Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, I love al-Qa'ida. I will never go against their word. "If the Australian people want me, Saleh Jamal, then they're going to cop the consequences. I don't want to go back to Australia. I don't want to see Australia." Jamal threatened to kill Mr Howard. "If I was given the opportunity I'd chop him up too, without any doubt, or remorse, because he's a very evil man," Jamal said. "If he was just to listen to people, he'd be a better person. He was the one who wrecked Australia. "His people don't want war against terrorism, against Muslims. He's the Prime Minister of Australia, not the puppet of George Bush. "There are 50 people in Australia who want to die (for an Islamic cause). The Australian Government should think really, really hard. "Death means nothing to these people. I wouldn't want to be in a country where sheik Osama bin Laden, may God protect him, wages war against them. "Do you know how easy it is to get 100 blokes, to talk to them for 10 minutes to do that, to get them to meet their lord? They'll destroy anything. Look at each person killing 10 people, that's 1000 people." NSW police are attempting to mount a terrorism case against Jamal, who is closely linked to six of the men charged last November in Sydney with terrorism offences as a result of the nation's largest ever counter-terror probe, Operation Pendennis. Jamal is accused of being central to the fledgling days of the investigation, when NSW police and Australian Federal Police monitored him using a small boat on Sydney Harbour to allegedly examine the Shell oil refinery, Harbour Bridge and Walsh Bay before New Year's Eve celebrations in 2003. He is also facing arrest warrants for his alleged role in the Lakemba shooting, using a bogus passport to leave Australia and two other attempted murder cases. But Jamal insists he has no case to answer in Australia, after his two co-accused in the Lakemba shooting were found not guilty during a Supreme Court trial last year.

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New charges tie terror cell to al-Qaeda

2006-04-01

NEW charges levelled against two men accused of belonging to a Melbourne terrorist cell have linked members of the group to supporting the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Two of the 10 men who allegedly formed a self-contained terrorist cell, Shane Kent, 29, and Aimen Joud, 21, now face charges of trying to help al-Qaeda carry out a terrorist operation. It has previously been alleged that Kent trained with al-Qaeda and that he used his knowledge to train members of the group. A total of 22 new charges have been laid against the 10 men, who were arrested in November last year. An Australian Federal Police spokeswoman said the new charges resulted from evidence gathered under search warrants in November and from follow-up investigations. "Operation Pendennis is an ongoing operation. While the majority of the brief has been served in Victoria and NSW, some of the material is still being assessed," she said. Also, three other men, believed to be connected to the group of 10, were being questioned by federal police in Melbourne last night. It is believed that two of the men are Majid Raad, brother of accused men Ahmed and Ezzit; and Shouie Hammoud. The group's alleged spiritual leader, Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 46, of Dallas, is charged with directing, belonging to, recruiting for and supporting a terrorist organisation. But a lawyer for Benbrika yesterday told the Melbourne Magistrates Court that the only explosion connected with the group was material detonated by federal police on October 6, 2004. The court heard the case against the men relied largely on interpretations of a vast record of conversations intercepted by police. Four of the men appeared briefly in court. Benbrika spoke briefly in Arabic when he entered court then, evidently translating his remarks, said: "This life is very short. Everyone is going to die, but the best of us " His last words were indecipherable. His lawyer, Bill Doogue, said Benbrika was being held in solitary confinement and restricted to his cell 18 hours a day. "He has very limited access to his seven children, and when he does have access to his children his wife is not allowed in the room as well, and is forced to watch through the glass window," Mr Doogue said. "For a man who is presumed to be innocent it's grossly unfair." Yesterday's hearing was delayed after the men were refused permission to attend court in prison garb. The lawyer for eight of the men, Rob Stary, said their civilian clothing was soiled and musty. But magistrate Paul Smith said that not having been found guilty, they should appear in court as any other citizen would. "All defendants appearing before the court, whether in custody or not, should appear in civilian clothing," he said. As well as Benbrika, Kent and Joud, the men alleged to belong to the terror group are: Abdullah Merhi, 20, of Fawkner; Hany Taha, 31, of Hadfield; Ezzit Raad, 24, of Preston; Fadal Sayadi, 26, of Coburg; Amer Haddara, 26, of Yarraville; Ahmed Raad, 23, of Fawkner; and Izzydeen Atik, 25, of Williamstown North. They are charged with offences including funding a terrorist organisation and possessing items to carry out a terrorist act. They will appear again on June 14.

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Terror arrests stem 'significant threat'

2006-04-01

Police say the overnight arrest of three Melbourne men has disrupted the activity of a group with links to terrorist organisations overseas. A 21-year-old Coburg man, a 25-year-old from Brunswick and a 26-year-old from Hadfield have been charged with belonging to and providing funds to a terrorist organisation. They were arrested after a series of raids conducted last night by ASIO and Federal, Victorian and New South Wales police in north Melbourne. The Australian Federal Police's Assistant Commissioner for Counter Terrorism, Frank Prendergast, says the arrests relate to the November raids in Sydney and Melbourne. "We believe that what we've done is disrupt a significant threat to the community," he said. "The specifics of those threats will come out during the court processes and we need to be careful in this situation not to say anything that will impinge on the court process." Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon says the men have made no reference to a specific target for an attack. The ABC understands the men have been charged under tough new laws that prevent anyone associating with alleged terrorist groups. They are believed to be devotees of Islamic cleric Nacer Benbrika. The suspects' lawyer Rob Stary says the men belong to the same prayer group as 10 others facing court on terror offences. "This is an operation that's gone on now for nearly two years," he said. "[They have] been identified previously and it's curious, the timing of their arrest. They were arrested some time after five-thirty, co-incidentally at the same time that the Melbourne 10 appeared in court all on the same day after a committal mention hearing." The men were arrested as part of Operation Pendennis. The two older men have also been charged with supporting a terrorist organisation. Two of the charges carry a maximum penalty of 25 years' prison.

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Melbourne trio charged with terrorism offences

2006-03-31

Three Melbourne men have been charged with terrorist offences in relation to an ongoing counter-terrorism operation in the city. The Australian Federal Police (AFP), ASIO and Victorian police have all been involved in the arrests. A 21-year-old, a 25-year-old and a 26-year-old from the city's northern suburbs were questioned at the AFP's headquarters in Melbourne. They have been charged with intentional membership of a terrorist organisation and intentionally making funds available to a terrorist organisation. The two older men have also been charged with supporting a terrorist organisation. An AFP spokeswoman says the arrests are linked to the terrorism raids in Sydney and Melbourne in November last year coordinated by the AFP, ASIO, New South Wales and Victorian police.Operation Pendennis has resulted in multiple arrests and terrorist charges in both capital cities. The men are expected to face court on Monday.

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Aust. Police reveal counter-terrorism raids

2006-03-20

Police and intelligence officers are poring over documents seized in a fresh round of counter-terrorism raids in New South Wales. The action is part of the ongoing Operation Pendennis, which has resulted in multiple terrorism-related arrests and charges in Sydney and Melbourne since November last year. On March 9 Federal Police, their New South Wales counterparts and ASIO raided homes at Hoxton Park and Bankstown, in Sydney's south-west. A number of prison cells at Goulburn jail were also raided. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and ASIO are now assessing documents seized in the raids. No arrests were made and no homes were searched in Victoria. The AFP has confirmed the raids are related to Operation Pendennis. Last November, police claimed they had foiled a major terrorist plot when they simultaneously raided homes in Sydney and Melbourne in the early hours of the morning. Meanwhile the lawyer for a man arrested during terrorism raids in Sydney last year says authorities breached legal privilege by taking documents from his client's cell during a jail raid. Lawyer Greg Walsh says Omar Baladjam's cell and family home were raided. Mr Walsh says confidential notes Mr Baladjam had made were removed from his cell. "I'm very concerned that authorities, knowing that I was going to visit Mr Baladjam, would in those circumstances seize documents that he'd prepared for the sole purpose of seeking and obtaining legal advice from his lawyer," Mr Walsh said. "So there's a remarkable coincidence that authorities raid his former home and raid his cell, and take confidential records or documents that he's prepared to get legal advice [on]. So any citizen in the community out there can be subject to obviously an arbitrary raid and it would be simple outrage that such documents could be seized by authorities in these circumstances."

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Hizb-ut-Tahrir on Aussie radar

2006-03-05

AN urgent anti-terror operation has been launched in Melbourne just 10 days before the Commonwealth Games begin. Senior intelligence sources said agents were watching known associates of suspects identified during the anti-terrorist sting, Operation Pendennis, which culminated in the arrest of 19 men in Melbourne and Sydney in December. They have also targeted radical Islamic convert Gregory Middap, also known as Helmut Kirsch. Security services are also monitoring Melbourne-based fundamentalist group Hizbut-Tahrir. At the same time suspected terror cells are being investigated in Canberra and Perth. And it has emerged that the Games security blitz – the biggest in Australia's history – will cost around $200 million as 2600 Australian Defence Force troops are deployed across Melbourne. A contingent of SAS anti-terror troops and about 200 ASIO and Australian Federal Police agents have also deployed in Melbourne ahead of the Games. A massive operation aimed at vetting Games tourists and athletes is also under way. Kirsch has a history of violent crime and was once a member of the right-wing National Action group before converting to Islam. ASIO has raided his North Melbourne hostel – which looks after homeless people and released prisoners – on at least one occasion, in 2003 after Kirsch visited Afghanistan. Federal agents will work with police and intelligence agencies from around the world, combing the visas and details of the thousands of athletes and tourists coming to Melbourne. Overseas agencies have been passing on information about people and plans that may represent a threat to the Games. Security officials are especially interested in visitors from countries with links to al-Qaida and other terrorist organisations. e.g., Pakistan. It is believed the fundamentalist group Hizbut-Tahrir, which is based around the Preston mosque, is also the target of a probe. In November, inflammatory leaflets calling on Muslims to oppose Western governments and bearing the group's name were distributed at a family carnival to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Other suspected cells are being watched in Perth and Canberra after tip-offs that Muslim extremists were recruiting, intelligence sources said. The ASIO and AFP activity comes as the Games security effort steps up. Several of Australia's frontline fighter jets, the FA-18s, will arrive in Melbourne this week, with pilots authorised to shoot down any rogue aircraft. The jets are expected to be located at Point Cook. Black Hawk helicopters which have been scouring Melbourne on training runs will also be at work, ready to drop teams of Special Forces soldiers at a moment's notice. Officials will also put in place a 75km no-fly zone before the Games begin. Ships will be ready to sink vessels which might be planning to use the Yarra River as a staging post for an attack on the MCG and an Australian Navy warship will be on alert in Port Philip Bay. Crucial sites such as the MCG, Parliament, Federation Square and the Sports and Aquatic Centre will be under 24-hour CCTV surveillance. As well, hundreds of closed-circuit security cameras have been installed around the city to monitor quiet areas.

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Down Under

Urgent Anti-Terror Operation underway in Australia

2006-03-04

AN urgent anti-terror operation has been launched in Melbourne only 10 days before the Commonwealth Games begin. Senior intelligence sources have told the Sunday Herald Sun that agents are watching known associates of suspects identified during the anti-terrorist sting, Operation Pendennis, which culminated in the arrest of 19 men in Melbourne and Sydney in December. They have also focused on radical Islamic convert Gregory Middap, also known as Helmut Kirsch. Kirsch has a history of violence and was a member of the right-wing National Action group before converting to Islam. The far left, the far right and the Islamacists have all converged into one slime mold. ASIO has raided his North Melbourne hostel, which looks after homeless people, and released prisoners on at least one occasion, in 2003 after Kirsch visited Afghanistan. The sons of bitches were holding prisoners in the hostel?And security services are monitoring Preston-based fundamentalist group Hizb ut-Tahrir. Ah, yes ... our buddies HuT. At the same time, suspected terror cells are being investigated in Canberra and Perth.It has emerged that the Games security blitz, the biggest in Australia's history, will cost about $200 million as 2600 Australian Defence Force troops are deployed across the city. A massive operation aimed at vetting Games tourists and athletes is also in progress. Federal agents will work with police and intelligence agencies from around the world, combing the visas and details of the thousands of athletes and tourists coming to Melbourne. Overseas agencies have been passing on information about people and plans that may represent a threat to the Games. The ASIO and AFP activity comes as the Games security effort steps up. Several of Australia's frontline fighter jets, the F/A-18s, will arrive in Melbourne this week, with pilots authorised to shoot down any rogue aircraft. Good. Ozzies have more balls than the Germans. Black Hawk helicopters, which have been flying over Melbourne on training runs, will also be at work, ready to drop special forces soldiers at a moment's notice. Officials will also put in place a 75km radius no-fly zone before the Games begin. Ships will be ready to sink vessels that may be planning to use the Yarra River as a staging post for an attack on the MCG and an Australian Navy warship will be on alert in Port Philip Bay. Crucial sites such as the MCG, Parliament, Federation Square and the Sports and Aquatic Centre will be under 24-hour CCTV surveillance. Connex has also installed transparent rubbish bins at city train stations. The bins will enable authorities to see bombs or other suspect packages easier.

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