Imminent attack: The terror plots foiled on Australian home soil
THE vigilance of police and counter-terrorism authorities has protected Australia from a litany of terrifying atrocities on home soil. Here’s a list of thwarted attacks.
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THE vigilance of police and counter-terrorism authorities has protected Australia from a litany of terrifying atrocities on home soil. Here’s a list of thwarted attacks.
► 2005: OPERA House and Sydney Harbour Bridge possible targets of nine men, including two of Australia’s most notorious terrorists Mohamed Elomar and Khaled Sharrouf, arrested during Operation Pendennis.
The group had stockpiled enough guns, ammunition and bomb-making equipment to cause mass deaths on Australian soil.
► 2006: AUSTRALIAN Grand Prix target of terror plot planned by Abdul Nacer Benbrika and four accomplices. They were also planning to kill Prime Minister John Howard.
Benbrika is currently serving 15 years in jail at Barwon Prison for leading a terrorist plot to attack Melbourne landmarks.
There were fears the charismatic Benbrika was radicalising other prisoners.
Earlier this year the Herald Sun revealed Benbrika was influencing younger extremists on the outside and was linked to one of the key figures in the foiled Christmas Day plot — a plan to attack crowds at St Paul’s Cathedral and Federation Square.
► 2009: FOUR Melbourne men planned to storm the Holsworthy Barracks in Sydney with automatic weapons.
The perpetrators planned to infiltrate the base and shoot as many army personnel and others as possible until they themselves were killed.
Three of the men were later sentenced to 18 years in prison, with the presiding Judge saying that they should be ashamed for their ingratitude to Australia.
► 2009: MOTHER’S Day Classic fun run and walk in Melbourne targeted by teen who planned to detonate bombs.
The teenager was under instruction by notorious British jihadist Junaid Hussain, a notorious ISIS recruiter who has planned terrorist attacks around the world.
Hussain was killed in a drone strike in Syria in 2015. His young Melbourne protege later pleaded guilty to planning a terrorist attack and was jailed for seven years.
► 2015: THREE men arrested over a plot to destroy an AFP building, NSW Police buildings and the Garden Island naval base. Police allegedly found notes that mentioned beheadings and “guerilla warfare” in the Blue Mountains.
► 2016: MELBOURNE teen Sevdet Besim admitted plotting to run down and behead a police officer during Anzac Day commemorations.
A court heard he used an encrypted messaging app to try and obtain a gun to “terrorise” the “kafirs” on Anzac Day.
He was handed a 10-year jail sentence in the Victorian Supreme Court in September 2016 and must serve at least seven-and-a-half years before he is eligible for parole.
► 2016: TWO schoolboys who were allegedly preparing for a terror attack in Sydney’s southwest, with police alleging they had links to the Islamic State.
The 16-year-olds were detained in a laneway behind a Bankstown mosque, hours after they allegedly bought two bayonets at a local gun shop.
Police wearing protective vests headed to the prayer hall after officers received information about the alleged purchase of the knives. The pair allegedly also had pieces of paper with religious statements on them, which it’s claimed they planned to read out while they carried out a beheading.
► 2016: ONE of two accused terror plotters who allegedly planned to carry out a terror attack at Parramatta Westfield was found with a hunting knife and a Shahada flag in her handbag as well as instructions for making a bomb detonator.
The teenager laughed and cheered as a Sydney court heard evidence of her “favourite” beheading video.
► 2016: SEVEN people were arrested allegedly preparing a Christmas Day attack in Melbourne.
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