By Kim Stephens
Five Victorian men dubbed the "tinnie terrorists" over a bizarre plot to travel by boat from northern Queensland to Syria will be extradited to Melbourne after being charged on Saturday night.
Federal Attorney-General George Brandis confirmed on Sunday the Australian Federal Police charged the group with terrorism-related offences which carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The plebiscite question should be "simple and self-explanatory," the Attorney-General says. Credit: Kim Stephens
They remain in custody and will face Cairns Magistrates Court on Monday, where police will apply to extradite them to Melbourne.
Police will allege the group intended to flee to Syria to join the militant Islamic State.
Robert 'Musa' Cerantonio, is one of the five men in custody, charged with terrorist offences.Credit: Eddie Jim
The much-ridiculed plot to travel by boat from northern Australia via Indonesia and the Philippines was hatched after Foreign Minister Julie Bishop cancelled the group's passports and the request of the AFP, Mr Brandis said.
They had been under surveillance for some time, he said, which led to their arrests near Cairns on Tuesday.
Federal police have executed 10 search warrants in Melbourne's north west and in northern Queensland in the intervening time, Mr Brandis said, before charging each man with one count of making preparations for incursion into foreign countries for the purpose of engaging in hostile activities.
Islamic preacher Musa Cerantonio, who has been described as "an outspoken cheerleader for ISIS", was arrested near Cairns on Tuesday along with Shayden Thorne, Kadir Kaya, Antonio Grenata and another, so far unidentified, man.
The men range in age from 21 to 31.
While not missing the opportunity to spruik the government's enhanced border protection laws as facilitating the arrest in the midst of the federal election campaign, Mr Brandis said though the plot had been subject to ridicule, the allegations were serious.
"Obviously there was at one level an unusual character to the plot, I know it has been ridiculed but these are serious crimes because they involved preparation to engage in terrorist war fighting overseas and that is against Australian law," he said.
He said there were a number of people under police surveillance in Australia but emphasised the security threat remained at probable, the level it rose to in September 2014.
"I want to reassure the Australian people that our agencies, police and national security agencies, are among the best in the world and they will do whatever they need to do to keep Australia safe," he said.
"The important thing to bear in mind is these people have been under surveillance for quite some time, that's the reason their passports were cancelled because they had been under surveillance and their intentions to travel to the Middle East were know to the authorities."
Mr Brandis said the police were seeking the extradition of the group to Melbourne, due to the majority of the alleged planning having been undertaken there.
Anyone who sees suspicious activity is urged to phone the National Security Hotline on 1800 123 400.