Foiled: Oz gas bomb plot to down a plane
Alert level high as 4 held in Sydney raids
AUSTRALIA has foiled a plot to down a passenger jet with a bomb hidden in a meat mincer.
Four men were held in Sydney as 40 heavily armed officers in gas masks swooped on five homes after a tip-off from an overseas security service.
Authorities had beefed up security at the city’s airport and acted as the plot was in “a different league” – and they feared the gang was set to strike.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the threat was “very real” and the alert level remained at “probable”.
Local media said the device, to be smuggled on in kitchen gear as hand luggage, would emit a toxic, sulphur-based gas and either kill or immobilise people.
It is thought the terror cell intended to target a flight to the Middle East. The Lebanese-Australian men held were father-and-son pairs linked by marriage. It is believed explosive teams recovered a suspicious device. Armed police kept guard as forensics teams searched, bringing out evidence bags.
Items seized at one home included a domestic grinder and a multi-mincer for making sausages. Material to make a bomb, said to be “ready to go”, was allegedly found at one house. A woman led from a raid said “I love Australia” and a man with a cut head was removed by ambulance. Police also visited the nearby Redfern Mosque.
Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin added: “We believe it is Islamic-inspired. Terrorists are becoming ingenious about figuring out new ways to defeat our security mechanisms.” Police applied to hold the men for up to seven days before charging or releasing them.
An Iraqi gunman was shot dead by German police after killing one reveller in a nightclub in the southern city of Konstanz early yesterday.