Lindt cafe inquiry: Police initially suspected radical group had seized cafe

POLICE initially suspected a group of young Sydney radicals who had professed to be willing to commit murder or die for Islamic State was behind the deadly Lindt Cafe siege, it has been revealed.

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POLICE initially suspected a group of young Sydney radicals who had professed to be willing to commit murder or die for Islamic State was behind the deadly Lindt Cafe siege, it has been revealed.

Within 20 minutes of the chilling 9.41am triple-0 call from inside the cafe declaring Australia was under ­attack from IS, the order had gone out from the head of the state’s Counter-Terrorism Squad, Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch, to track down every one of the group of 18 men.

It was feared the siege may have been in retaliation for the arrest that same morning, December 15, 2014, of one of the alleged kingpins of the group targeted by Operation Appleby, the nation’s largest counter-terrorism operation.

Gunman Man Haron Monis.

Assistant Police Commissioner Mark Murdoch arriving at the inquiry. Picture: Stephen Cooper

The arrested man was a “significant” target, Mr Murdoch said in his statement to the siege inquest.

By 10.47am, all the Operation Appleby targets had been accounted for but it would be four hours before police confirmed the gunman was accused murder ­accomplice, sex offender and fake sheik Man Monis.

Mr Murdoch gave evidence to the inquest in mid-May but his redacted statement was only released days ago. Mr Murdoch was the police commander in charge of the siege from midday on December 15, when it was declared a terrorist incident, until 10pm when he was replaced by Assistant Commissioner Mark Jenkins.

It ended at 2.13am on December 16 when police stormed the cafe after Monis killed cafe manager Tori Johnson. Barrister Katrina Dawson died when she was hit by fragments of bullets.

Most of the Operation Appleby targets are now behind bars on various terrorism-related charges including over the shooting murder of police employee Curtis Cheng in October last year.

A joint NSW and Commonwealth review of the siege cleared state and federal police and other security agencies including ASIO of “complacency” over Monis, despite him being repeatedly assessed by ASIO.

It found there was never “any information to indicate Monis had the intent or desire to commit a terrorist act”. He was assessed by ASIO just days before the siege but “fell outside the threshold” of the highest priority counter-terrorism investigations.