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. |
Two of the Australian terrorism suspects arrested in Yemen are reportedly the young sons of a Jemaah Islamiah agent.