Turkey to extradite IS recruiter to Australia
SYDNEY: Turkey has agreed to a request from the Australian government to extradite a citizen it believes to be a top recruiter for the Islamic State militant group, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said yesterday.
Melbourne-born Neil Prakash has been linked to several Australiabased attack plans and has appeared in IS videos and magazines.
A u stralia alleges that Prakash actively recruited Australian men, women and children. The government announced financial sanctions against him in 2015, including anyone giving him financial assistance, with punishment of up to 10 years in jail.
“We’re looking forward — we should be getting him back within months, but it’s obviously got to go through the Turkish processes but we do have an extradition treaty,” Turnbull told Australian TV network Seven.
“We are satisfied that Neil Prakash, who has been one of the key financiers and organisers in ISIL or Daesh... will be brought back to Australia and he will face the courts,” Turnbull said, referring to the IS militant group.
Australia raised its terror threat level to “high” for the first time in 2015, citing the likelihood of attacks by Australians radicalised in Iraq or Syria.
The country, a staunch ally of the US, believes more than 100 citizens are fighting in the region.
In its latest budget on Tuesday, the Australian government announced it would invest over A$300 million (RM960 million) in the Australian Federal Police to fight terrorism, providing an additional 100 intelligence experts, over 100 tactical response and covert surveillance operators, and 100 forensic specialists. Reuters