Reviews under way after 13-year-old autistic boy with Islamic State fixation targeted in undercover operation

The Australian federal police have confirmed there are multiple reviews being conducted into an undercover counterterror operation which targeted a 13year-old autistic boy with a fixation on Islamic State, as calls grow for a public inquiry into the case.

Guardian Australia revealed on Saturday that the boy, known by the pseudonym Thomas Carrick, was granted a permanent stay on terror-related charges last October, after a magistrate found police further radicalised him during the operation and “doomed” his efforts at rehabilitation.

AFP deputy commissioner Ian McCartney, appearing before the parliamentary joint committee on law enforcement on Monday, said the force accepted the magistrate’s decision, and there were a “range of reviews” into the matter.

McCartney authorised a major controlled operation into the boy, which eventually resulted in his arrest soon after his 14th birthday, in October 2021 – six months after his parents had approached Victoria police for help dealing with his fixation.

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He said it was “a decision I didn’t take lightly”.

“There was a set of exceptional circumstances and the decision to approve a controlled operation was due to the escalation of threat, the need to protect the community but at the same time, taking into account the age of the individual, in what I must say is a very challenging and complex matter.”

McCartney said there had been “a spike in similar cases in recent years, the radicalisation of youth predominantly online, and predominantly unfortunately with mental health being a factor.”

He said the combination created “significant challenges”.

“It did get to the stage and the decision was made jointly between the AFP, Asio and Victoria police that the threat – the real threat – had escalated to such a level that we had to take action,” McCartney said.

Under questioning from Greens senator for NSW, David Shoebridge, McCartney said that it was not the AFP’s “intent” to further radicalise the boy during the undercover operation.

“The person was on the path to radicalisation long before we became involved, long before Victoria police became involved.”

Shoebridge responded: “It was the AFP that recommended he become a sniper and a suicide bomber. It was the AFP that put this in his mind.

“A 13-year-old boy with autism and an IQ of 71. Is anyone held to account for this obscene abuse of power and authority?”

McCartney did not directly respond to whether anybody had been held to account, but said he would come back to the committee in future with more information regarding the reviews.

The AFP were approached for comment.

Victoria police said in a statement that it routinely reviewed “such outcomes, with a view to continually improve our operational practice”.

Adel Salman, the president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, said a public inquiry had to be held into the case.

Salman said that while he had heard of similar instances involving parents approaching police with concerns about their children, only for that individual to be targeted in undercover operations, this was the worst example he had seen.

“There is a pattern of [police] behaviour that has been going back many years, but this is the most egregious case we’re aware of,” he told the ABC.

“Why would a parent have any trust or confidence in police after this? If you’re a parent and you’re concerned about your child, you would not go to the police.

“[A public inquiry] needs to be done as a matter of priority. We can’t allow this sort of behaviour to continue.”

Dan Nicholson, the executive director of criminal law at Victoria Legal Aid, posted on X that “on the face of it, federal police did precisely the opposite of what they should have”.

“This is an extraordinarily concerning case for many reasons,” he told the Guardian in a statement.

“There should be an independent and transparent inquiry into the actions of all Commonwealth and state agencies involved to ensure such a situation never happens again.”

Liana Buchanan, the Victorian commissioner for children and young people, described the matter as a “deeply alarming case”.

Attorney general Mark Dreyfus, who has portfolio responsibility for the AFP, was contacted for comment.