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Terrorism raids: police make arrests after raids across Sydney and Brisbane Terrorism raids: police make arrests after raids across Sydney and Brisbane
(about 1 hour later)
Authorities have raided a string of homes and made several arrests as part of a counter-terrorism operation in Sydney. Police have made a number of arrests after raids on a string of properties in Sydney and Queensland in what could be the biggest counter-terrorism raid in Australia’s history.
The operation, involving NSW police and Australian federal police (AFP), was continuing on Thursday morning. Police have not specified how many people have been arrested, saying the operation in the north-west of Sydney was ongoing.
Details of the arrests are yet to be confirmed but police said they followed the execution of a number of search warrants across Sydney’s north-west suburbs in dawn raids on Thursday. The AFP confirmed three properties were raided in Upper Mount Gravatt East, Logan, and Underwood, south of Brisbane, but would not be drawn on any further detail.
The suburbs include Beecroft, Bellavista, Guildford, Merrylands, Northmead, Wentworthville, Marsfield, Westmead, Castle Hill, Revesby, Bass Hill and Regents Park. Hundreds of police officers are believed to be involved in the Sydney raids, which was a joint counter-terrorism operation between the AFP and NSW police.
An AFP spokesperson said further updates would be provided later on Thursday. The Daily Telegraph reports terrorism attacks were planned on Australian soil which the AFP would not confirm or deny.
The AFP told AAP it was also executing search warrants in the Brisbane suburbs of Mount Gravatt East, Logan and Underwood, but wouldn’t confirm if the operation was linked to the raids in Sydney. Police were expected to release more details later on Thursday.
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. The Sydney raids took place in Beecroft, Bellavista, Guildford, Merrylands, Northmead, Wentworthville, Marsfield, Westmead, Castle Hill, Revesby, Bass Hill and Regents Park.
Last week, Brisbane man Omar Succarieh, 31, was arrested and charged with terrorism-related offences following a series of raids. There are reports the operation is connected to two arrests in Brisbane last week during a counter-terrorism operation with one of the raids in the same suburb, Underwood, where an Islamic bookshop was searched.
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. Two men aged 31 and 21 were arrested in last week’s raids in a joint operation involving about 180 Australian federal police (AFP) and Queensland police.
Succarieh, who is due to apply for bail in court on Thursday, is believed to be the brother of Ahmed Succarieh, who reportedly became Australia’s first suicide bomber in Syria last year. It is alleged the men were involved in recruiting, facilitating and funding people to travel to Syria to engage in hostile activities.
Logan man Kruezi, 22, has alleged links to the Islamic State group. The 31-year-old, Omar Succarieh, is the brother of Ahmed Succarieh, Australia’s first suicide bomber to die in Syria, and was charged with providing funds to the terrorist organisation Jabhat al-Nusra. The other man was not named.
At the time the AFP’s national manager counter terrorism assistant commissioner, Neil Gaughan, said no attacks were planned on Australian soil and emphasised the arrests were in relation to assisting people overseas.
“I would like to stress there is no information or intelligence available to police or security agencies at this time to indicate that these males were involved in terrorism attack planning in Australia,” Gaughan said.
Gaughan added that the men were not connected to Islamic State (Isis). “This has got nothing to do with Islam,” he said. “This is criminal behaviour by Australians involved in terrorist activity.”
It later emerged in court at least one of the men had connections to Islamic State.
The last large-scale counter-terrorism operation in Australia was Operation Pendennis in 2005 when 13 men were arrested over planned bomb attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.