SYDNEY (AP) – Australian police on Wednesday arrested seven teenagers accused of following a violent extremist ideology in raids across Sydney to protect communities from potential attacks. announced the official.
Police said the seven men were aged between 15 and 17 and were part of a network that included a 16-year-old boy accused of stabbing a bishop in a Sydney church on April 15.
The other five teenagers were still being questioned late on Wednesday by the Integrated Counter-Terrorism Team, which includes federal and state police, the country’s main spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Agency, and the New South Wales Crime Commission. There is. It specializes in extremism and organized crime.
NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said more than 400 officers executed 13 search warrants at properties across Sydney’s southwest as the suspect was believed to pose an immediate threat. Ta.
“We allege that these individuals espoused a religiously motivated violent extremist ideology,” Hudson told reporters.
Sydney Assyrian Church stabbed bishop publicly forgives suspected attacker, calls for ‘Christ-like’ response https://t.co/2rBXAL0cgT
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) April 18, 2024
“This group…is believed to pose an unacceptable risk and threat to the people of New South Wales and our current pure investigative strategy does not adequately ensure public safety,” Hudson said. he added.
Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Chrissy Barrett said investigators had found no evidence of a specific target or deliberate timing of “an act of violence”.
He said the police operation was unrelated to Thursday’s Anzac Day, a public holiday where Australians remember their war dead.
It has also been a potential target for extremists in the past.
A 16-year-old boy was charged Friday with committing an act of terrorism after an Assyrian Orthodox bishop and priest were injured in a knife attack. This crime carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
An Australian Federal Court judge on Wednesday extended an order banning social media platform X from showing a video of a bishop being repeatedly stabbed.
Judge Geoffrey Kennett extended the ban imposed by the court on Monday until May 10.
X, formerly known as Twitter, announced last week that it would fight in court against Australia’s order to remove posts related to the attack.
Australia’s Electronic Safety Commission, which bills itself as the world’s first government agency dedicated to keeping people safe online, has applied to the court for a temporary global ban.
The boy spoke in Arabic about being insulted after the Prophet Muhammad stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emanuel and Pastor Isaac Royle at Christian Church of the Good Shepherd during a service streamed online. It is said that he did.
ASIO Director General Mike Burgess confirmed his organization was involved in Wednesday’s operation.
“Australian security agencies are always committed to providing safety information to enable police to respond to such matters in the event of an imminent threat to life or other ongoing threats,” Mr Burgess said.
He said child investigations reached 50% of ASIO’s “priority counter-terrorism caseload” a few years ago, and that number has since declined.
But Mr Burgess said the number of minors being investigated was once again on the rise, due to social media content and other reasons.
“They are a vulnerable population,” Burgess said.
