Airplane attack plot foiled in Australia

Terrorists planned to bring down aircraft with explosives

SYDNEY — An Islamic-inspired terrorist plot to bring down a plane has been foiled by counter-terrorism raids across Sydney, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters early Sunday.

Four men were arrested during the raids by heavily armed anti-terrorism squads carried out on Saturday night on five properties in Sydney after police received information from partner agencies.

Security had been increased at Australia’s major airports since Thursday, when police received information relating to a possible terror attack, Turnbull said.

Travelers could expect delays and should arrive earlier at airports because of increased security checks on luggage, he said.

Despite the raid, Turnbull said Australia’s terror threat level remained at probable.

“The threat of terrorism is very real,” Turnbull said. Airport security was “enhanced and intensified” two days before Saturday night’s raid, he said.

Police acted after they became aware people in Sydney were planning to commit a terrorist attack using an “improvised device,” Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin said.

The four men arrested have not yet been charged.

Colvin declined to say whether they were known to police before the raids or whether they were members of Islamic State or any known terrorist group.

The attack was to target the Australian aviation industry at a major airport, but airport security had not been compromised, Colvin said.

“Terrorists are becoming very ingenious about ways to defeat our security mechanisms,” Colvin said.

“Australia has some of the best, if not the best airport security arrangements in the world and we’re confident those measures are effective, and would have been effective, in this circumstance,” he said.

Police were still searching the properties, Colvin said, and he declined to say whether they had found bomb-making materials.

During the raids, a man with a bandage on his head and draped in a blanket was filmed by media being led away by authorities.

One woman told local broadcaster ABC that her son and husband were arrested during the raid, but she said they had no links to terrorism. “I love Australia,” she said before she was escorted away by police.

The occupants of a raided home were “perfectly nice and normal people” who said hello and seemed nice, a neighbor told the Australian Associated Press.

This was the 13th alleged conspiracy thwarted since the terror threat level was raised to “probable” in 2014, Justice Minister Michael Keenan said.

Since that time, a total of 70 people have faced charges as a result of 31 operations.

“The primary threat to Australia still remains lone actors,” Keenan said.

About 100 people have left Australia for Syria to fight alongside organizations such as Islamic State, Australia’s immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has said.