Police say the raids in Sydney yesterday morning foiled a horrifying plot to behead a random member of the Australian public in Sydney’s Martin Place, drape them in an Islamic State flag and behead them on camera.
This morning, terrifying new details have emerged about the plot, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott revealing on Channel Nine’s Today show the beheading was planned to take place “within days”.
Mr Abbott this morning confirmed there is one “key individual” acting inside the Islamic State, sending strong orders from Syria to networks in Australia to carry out attacks.
“The advice of our police and security agencies was that an attack of this nature could take place within days … That’s why they acted with great determination,” Mr Abbott said.
To read about the two teenaged Austrian girls believed to be pregnant in Syria to fighters, see this post.
“It is a safe country but we have to be aware that there are people even here in Australia that would do us harm.”
It is understood four people were charged yesterday after the large-scale anti-terror operation, with a 22-year-old man named Omarjan Azari appearing in court yesterday on terrorism-related charges.
Mr Azari is accused of having conspired with Mohammad Ali Baryalei, 33, believed to be Australia’s most senior Islamic State member, to to act in preparation or plan a terrorist act or acts.
Baryalei is understood to have made the instruction to kidnap people in Brisbane and Sydney and have them executed on camera, the ABC reports.
Mr Abbott also told the Today show there has been “chatter among these networks” about a potential attack on Parliament House.
“One of the first consequences of the review of security has been moves to put Australian Federal Police back in charge of internal as well as external security,” he said. “It is happening almost immediately.”
News Corp reports senior intelligence sources confirmed the building had been “scoped out” for an attack involving automatic weapons, and that armed AFP police officers have been moved to Canberra.
Tony Abbott said in a statement yesterday’s anti-terror operation had gone ahead smoothly and professionally.
“This isn’t about people’s religion, it’s not about what people wear,” Mr Abbott said. “It’s about potential terorrist attacks in Australia.”
“They hate us for who we are and how we live. That’s what makes us a target, the fact that we are different from their view of what an ideal society should look like,” he said.
“We are free, we are pluralist, we are tolerant, we are accepting — all of this in their eyes is wrong.”
Police said the raids yesterday in Brisbane weren’t directly linked to the operation in Sydney.
Omarjan Azari will return to court on 13 November.
Previously, Mamamia wrote:
Large-scale terror raids are being conducted across north-western Sydney and in Brisbane’s south.
The ABC reports the anti-terror operation is one of the largest in Australia’s history.
Over 600 NSW police officers and Australian Federal Police officers have been involved in the raids and so far, and 12 people have reportedly been arrested in Sydney during the operation.
Nine News reports it is believed the suspects were planning a series of attacks in Australia.
The ABC reports that search warrants were executed in the Sydney suburbs of Beecroft, Bellavista, Guildford, Merrylands, Northmead, Wentworthville, Marsfield, Westmead, Castle Hill, Revesby, Bass Hill and Regents Park, while in Brisbane, similar raids took place in Mt Gravatt East, Logan and Underwood.
The raids follow Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s announcements on Friday that Australia’s terror alert level had been lifted from medium to high, and on Sunday that Australia would join the fight in the Middle East against the Islamic State.
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