A major pre-dawn
operation was carried out across Sydney and Brisbane by more than 800 officers
acting on some 25 search warrants. One person has so far been charged with
serious terrorism-related offenses.
At least one gun
was seized, along with a sword.
Omarjan Azari,
22, appeared in a Sydney court and was remanded in custody, charged with
planning a terrorist act which prosecutors alleged was designed to “shock,
horrify and terrify” the community.
The court heard
he was instructed in a recent phone call by the most senior Australian member
of Islamic State, Afghan-born Mohammad Baryalei, to commit the atrocity.
Prosecutor
Michael Allnutt alleged the plan involved the “random selection of persons to
rather gruesomely execute” on camera and involved “an unusual level of
fanaticism”.
The Australian
Broadcasting Corporation said the video was then to be sent back to IS’s media
unit in the Middle East , where it would be
released to the public.
The jihadists
have in recent weeks broadcast video footage of three foreign nationals being
beheaded in Syria
The raids, which
spanned multiple suburbs, came barely a week after Australia
boosted the terror threat level to “high” for the first time in a decade on
growing concern about militants returning from fighting in Iraq and Syria
Prime Minister
Tony Abbott said he had been briefed on intelligence that public beheadings had
been ordered by IS militants.
“That’s the
intelligence we received,” he said, prompting comparisons to the murder of
British soldier Lee Rigby, who was hacked to death in a random attack on a
street in England
“The
exhortations, quite direct exhortations, were coming from an Australian who is
apparently quite senior in ISIL to networks of support back in Australia
“So this is not
just suspicion, this is intent and that’s why the police and security agencies
decided to act in the way they have.”
The Australian
government believes up to 60 Australians are fighting alongside jihadists for
IS, while another 100 were actively working to support the movement at home.
“These people, I
regret to say, do not hate us for what we do, they hate us for who we are and
how we live. That’s what makes us a target,” said Abbott.
“It’s important
our police and security organisations be one step ahead of them and this
morning they were.”
The latest raids
followed the arrests of two people last week in Brisbane
who were charged with allegedly recruiting, funding and sending jihadist
fighters to Syria
http://manilastandardtoday.com/2014/09/19/aussie-raids-foil-is-demo-killings-/
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