Australia foils ‘terror plot’ to bring down airplane after four arrested in Sydney

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Anti-terrorism raids carried out across Sydney have thwarted an alleged plot to bring down an aircraft, according to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
The four men were arrested in a series of raids across Sydney on July 29, 2017. PHOTO: TWITTER / AMICHAISTEIN1
PM Turnbull speaks to the media during a visit to Holsworthy Barracks in Sydney, July 17, 2017. PHOTO: EPA
Police walk past passengers as they patrol Sydney Airport on July 30, 2017. PHOTO: AFP

SYDNEY - Australia has foiled an Islamist-inspired terrorist plot to bring down an aircraft with an improvised explosive device, authorities said on Sunday (July 30), after four people were arrested in raids across Sydney. AFP has reported.

Australian newspapers reported that the four suspects nabbed were from the same family and had plotted bring down a jet by gassing the passengers with a homemade bomb, and that authorities believed the plan had been orchestrated by ISIS milit­ants in Syria.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the plot appeared to be "elaborate" rather than planned by a lone wolf, as security was strengthened at major domestic and international airports across the nation.

"I can report last night that there has been a major joint counter-terrorism operation to disrupt a terrorist plot to bring down an airplane," Turnbull told reporters.

"The threat of terrorism is very real. The disruption operation, the efforts overnight have been very effective but there's more work to do."

Officials did not specify if the alleged plot involved a domestic or international flight, but Sydney's Daily Telegraph reported that a local route had been the objective.

The Australian, however, reported that police had arrested a family of four Lebanese Australians - two fathers and two sons - who had allegedly plotted to bring down a jet by gassing the passengers, and that authorities believed the plan had been orchestrated by ISIS milit­ants in Syria.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin described the plot as "Islamic-inspired" and confirmed only that four men had been arrested in a series of raids across Sydney on Saturday.

"We do believe it is Islamic-inspired terrorism. Exactly what is behind this is something we need to investigate fully," he said.

Colvin added that local authorities had received "credible information from partner agencies" about the claims but would not elaborate further or say if the men had been on any watch list.

"In recent days, law enforcement has become aware of information that suggested some people in Sydney were planning to commit a terrorist attack using an IED (improvised explosive device)," he told reporters.

He added that several items "of great interest to police" had been seized in the raids but police did not yet have a great deal of information on the specific attack, the location, date or time. He said the investigation was expected to be "very long and protracted".

"However, we're investigating information indicating the aviation industry was potentially a target of that attack."

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Colvin would not provide further details, but the Australian Broadcasting Corporation said police found items that could be used to make a homemade bomb in one of the raided homes Saturday.

Authorities believed they planned to smuggle the device onto a plane to blow it up, the ABC added.

The Australian said that the four men, who were ­related by blood and marriage, had been building an explosive ­device that could have emitted a toxic, sulphur-based gas that would have killed or immobilised everyone on the aircraft.

Police quickly moved in because the device was in the final stages of readiness, the paper said. Heavily-armed NSW police officers raided five southwest Sydney properties, two in Punchbowl, one in Lakemba and one in Wiley Park and one in inner-city Surry Hills, the Australian said, arresting the four men who were said to be dual nationals.

Items seized from the premises included a mincer and a domestic grinder, believe to have been used to build an improvised explosive device to be smuggled on to a plane.

The Australian reported that it had been told the suspected cell was in contact with Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorists inside Syria and that contact was ­"crucial'' in the development of the group's plan and that Australian authorities had been tipped off about the group by a foreign security service.

Many in the Lebanese-Australian community in Surry Hills arrived in the 1950s and 60s and described their Christian, Sunni Muslim and Shia Muslim members as "fairly harmonious". The Austrlian reported that yesterday they were stunned that police anti-­terror raids more often associated with the larger Lebanese-Australian populations in western Sydney had come to their suburb on the CBD's southeastern fringe.

AIRPORT SECURITY BOOST

The names and ages of the four men arrested Saturday have not been released and they have not been charged by police.

A magistrate late Sunday gave police an additional seven days to detain the men without charge.

The Seven Network reported 40 riot squad officers moved on a terraced house in the inner-city Sydney suburb of Surry Hills. TV footage showed a man with a bandage on his head being led away by authorities, draped in a blanket.

Sections of surrounding roads remained cordoned off on Sunday as forensic officers and investigators wrapped up and removed items from the house.

Airline passengers have meanwhile been asked to arrive at least two hours early for domestic flights and three hours for international routes, and to limit their baggage.

"Australia has very strong safeguards in place at its airports; these changes are about making them even stronger," Australian carrier Qantas said.

Airline Virgin Australia stressed that the additional airport security measures were just "precautionary" and passengers "should not be concerned".

Turnbull said the national terror alert level, which was raised on September 2014 amid rising concerns over attacks by individuals inspired by organisations such as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), would remain at probable.

Canberra has introduced new national security laws since then, while counter-terrorism police have also made a string of arrests.
A total of 12 attacks, before the latest announcement, have been prevented in the past few years, while 70 people have been charged, Justice Minister Michael Keenan said.

"The primary threat to Australia still remains lone actors, but there's still the ability for people to have sophisticated plots and sophisticated attacks still remain a real threat," he told reporters Sunday.

The prime minister added that the alleged plan appeared to be "more in that category of an elaborate plot".

Several terror attacks have taken place in Australia in recent years, including a Sydney cafe siege in 2014 that saw two hostages killed.

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