Two charged for Aussie plane bomb

SYDNEY: An Australian sent his unsuspecting brother to catch a flight carrying a home- made bomb disguised as a meat-mincer built at the direction of an Islamic State commander, police said.

Detailing one of Australia’s “most sophisticated” militant plots, police said yesterday two men, who have been charged with terror-related offences, also planned to build a device to release poisonous gas in a public area.

High-grade military explo- sives used to build the bomb were sent by air cargo from Turkey as part of a plot “inspired and directed” by the IS, police said.

The plot targeted an Etihad Airways flight on July 15, but the bomb never made it past airport security.

Police alleged one of the two men charged on Thursday had been introduced to the IS by his brother, who they said was a senior member of the group in Syria.

Under the instruction of the unidentified IS commander, the suspects built a “fully functioning IED” (improvised explosive device).

One of the brothers was unaware he was carrying a bomb in his luggage and tried to check it in at the airport, police said.

Such a device would work like a large grenade, exploding with enough force to blow a hole in an airplane, even if it went off in the cargo hold, said a security expert in Melbourne. – Reuters