Terror suspects detained
Australian police chief said group planned attacks on Christmas Day
AUSTRALIAN police have detained five men suspected of planning a series of Christmas Day attacks using explosives, knives and a gun in the heart of the country’s second-largest city.
The suspects, inspired by Islamic State, planned a string of attacks in Melbourne, according to Victoria state police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton.
Targets included Flinders Street railway station, neighbouring Federation Square, a fashionable bar and restaurant precinct, and St Paul’s Cathedral, an Anglican church. Mr Ashton said the men had been plotting the attack for three weeks. Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said it was one of the most substantial plots to be disrupted for several years.
Seven people were initially arrested in raids on Thursday night and yesterday morning in Melbourne, but a 26-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman were released without charge.
Five men aged 21 to 26 remain in custody.
Three have appeared in a Melbourne court charged with preparing or planning a terrorist attack, and face a life sentence convicted.
Hamza Abbas, 21, Ahmed Mohamed, 24, and Abdullah Chaarani, 26, did not enter pleas or apply for bail. They will appear in court next on April 28.
Police said the other two men will also be charged with preparing a terrorist attack.
Four of the suspects were born in Australia and the fifth was Egyptianborn with Egyptian and Australian citizenship.
Police believe the threat has been neutralised by the raids on five Melbourne premises, he said.
“Islamist terrorism is a global challenge that affects us all. But we must not be cowed by the terrorists,” Mr Turnbull told reporters.
“We will continue to go about our lives as we always have. What these if criminals seek to do is to kill. But they also seek to frighten us, to cow us into abandoning our Australian way of life,” he added.
Since Australia’s terrorist threat level was elevated in September 2014, the government says there have been four extremist attacks and 12 plots foiled by police.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin said the plotters had moved quickly from a plan to develop a capability to attack.
“In terms of events that we have seen over the past few years in Australia, this certainly concerns me more than any other event that I’ve seen,” Mr Colvin said.
“We believe that we have removed the bulk of this particular cell, this group.”
Victoria state premier Daniel Andrews said there will be extra police on the streets of Melbourne on Christmas Day to make the public feel safe.
About 400 officers were involved in the raids.