Sermon found on phones of brothers accused of planning to blow up plane with meat mincer
Two brothers accused of plotting to blow up a Sydney plane with a bomb hidden in a meat mincer both had a sermon on their phones which said: “Oh god bring down the aeroplanes”.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Two brothers accused of plotting to blow up a Sydney plane with a bomb hidden in a meat mincer both had a sermon on their phones which said: “Oh god bring down the aeroplanes”.
Khaled Mahmoud Khayat, 51, of Lakemba, and Mahmoud Khayat, 34, of Punchbowl, began a 30-day trial on Monday accused of planning terror attacks involving a bomb on a plane and poisonous gas in a “confined public space”.
The court heard that the bomb, concealed in the meat mincer, was put inside a third brother, Amer’s luggage but had to be removed during check-in at Sydney International Airport on July 15, 2017, because it was too heavy.
MORE NEWS
Ex-NSW terror cop: Tarrant was no ‘lone wolf’
Man tasered after brandishing knife outside police station
Top cops to testify for Ibrahim in defamation case
Amer continued on the Etihad flight overseas while older brother Khaled allegedly stored the bomb at his Lakemba garage and offered to do the bomb attack himself.
But Crown Prosecutor Lincoln Crowley QC said that a figure dubbed “The Controller” — who had been providing instructions from overseas — counselled Khaled against doing the attack himself.
He instead told him to find someone else prepared to do it as he had to “continue” the work.
The NSW Supreme Court heard that a fourth brother Tarek was in Syria and had links to Islamic State. Mahmoud and Khaled were allegedly conspiring with Tarek and The Controller.
Mr Crowley said that a sermon found on both Khaled and Mahmoud’s phones was relevant in showing their motivations.
It appeared on Khaled’s phone the day of the bomb plot attempt and was on Mahmoud’s phone a month earlier, he said.
“Oh God the sky is your sky and the land is your land and the seas are your seas,” part of it read.
“Oh god bring down the aeroplanes and drown their battleships.”
After the bomb plot was aborted the brothers were involved in a poisonous gas plot, Mr Crowley said.
“To make a lethal poisonous gas (which would be) exposed to members of the public in some confined space,” he said.
He said that the brothers did a final test burn at Mahmoud’s Punchbowl home outside on the barbecue before they were arrested by police that afternoon on July 29.
Khaled and Mahmoud have both pleaded not guilty of conspiring — between January 20 and July 29 in 2017 — to doing an act or acts in preparation of a terrorist act.
The trial before Justice Christine Adamson continues.
Originally published as Sermon found on phones of brothers accused of planning to blow up plane with meat mincer
Huge queues as monster blackout pushes Broken Hill to brink
Schools have been closed, mine workers stood down and the local hospital shifted to emergency mode as power starts to come back online in the outback city.
Elite college students in alleged ‘racial’ tiff at iconic Sydney venue
An investigation is underway at one of the University of Sydney’s prestigious residential colleges into an alleged after-party ‘incident’ with racial overtones at the Lansdowne Hotel that later saw police called to the venue.