Parramatta terror attack: Police are gunning for the ringleaders
SICK tributes to Farhad Jabar have surfaced as police reveal two teenage brothers are believed to have given the teen the gun he used to execute Curtis Cheng. Police ‘frustration’ over release of terror suspects
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Social media tributes praising Farhad Jabar feature a “green bird” image used by jihadis for dead fighters
Two teenage brothers allegedly gave the teen terrorist the gun used to kill police worker Curtis Cheng
CCTV footage seized by police allegedly shows Jabar, 15, meeting with a group at Parramatta Mosque in the lead up to the shooting
- Three of the four people arrested in raids in Sydney’s west linked to the shooting have been released
- NSW Premier Mike Baird says attack was “absolutely” a terrorist incident.
TRIBUTES praising Farhad Jabar as a martyr and “a brother with impeccable character” have surfaced online after the 15-year-old boy killed police accountant Curtis Cheng outside Parramatta Police Headquarters.
It comes as The Daily Telegraph can reveal that two teenage brothers allegedly gave Jabar the handgun at Parramatta mosque on Friday before the schoolboy terrorist shot Cheng, 58, in a cold-blooded execution on the footpath.
CCTV footage from the mosque also allegedly showed Jabar meeting several men in the lead-up to the brutal streetside slaying.
A number of men arrested in anti-terrorism raids across Sydney yesterday had attended the mosque on the day of the shooting, the head of the state’s counterterrorism command, NSW Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn said.
On social media, an Instagram account has been set up in Jabar’s memory using the motif of a “green bird” — a term used by jihadis to describe a dead fighter.
The account, with 45 followers and which features an Islamic State flag as its display picture, was set up the day after Jabar was shot dead by special police constables after he killed father-of-two Cheng.
A Sydney man is believed to be behind the account which also includes a photo of Al-Qaeda recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki, who gave religious guidance to the 9/11 hijackers, and the phrase: “Never trust a kafir (non-Muslim)”.
One post on the tribute account features a video of Jabar engaged in a gunfight with the special constables who shot him dead outside Parramatta Police HQ and the caption: “Oh one that has past Wallahi (I swear to Allah) I wont forget you”.
The posts have been liked by a number of people who allegedly support ISIS and count Malcolm X and jailed Perth radical preacher Junaid Thorne among their heroes.
In another exchange on the site, one person announced that his friend Jabar killed “someone who worked in the NSW police headquarters”.
His friend replied: “Allahu Akbar”, which translates as god is the greatest.
The person behind the tribute account added: “Nor ally with them, nor feel sorrow for them indeed they are the enemies of Allah and he will deal with them accordingly.”
He also wrote: “We considered him a brother with impeccable character and Allah is his judge,” under a picture of NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione with the headline that Jabar was responsible for the shooting.
A fellow ISIS supporter also wrote: “I miss the brother … He is a lion and we are all cowards.”
Police believe Jabar’s older-style weapon — a silver .38 Smith and Wesson, which would have cost anywhere upwards of $700 on the black market — was supplied by one of Sydney’s most notorious Middle Eastern crime clans but they would not have known — nor cared — what it would be used for.
“They wouldn’t give a f … what the gun was used for,” a senior police source told The Daily Telegraph.
“We have some confirmation of some of the people we’re interested in attending the mosque,” she said.
Parramatta Mosque leader Neil El-Kadomi claimed the CCTV vision given to police showed the teen gunman wearing a tracksuit and praying alone at the mosque between 11am and 11.40am — and that he had not been wearing a backpack at the time.
Heavily armed police stormed four homes across the city yesterday morning — and arrested four men — as part of their investigations into Friday’s execution of police worker Curtis Cheng.
ARRESTED BOY ‘MAD’, NOT EXPELLED
The family of police accountant Mr Cheng today thanked the public for the support.
They expressed their gratitude for the overwhelming sympathy and support from the public, the government and Mr Cheng’s police force colleagues, a police release said.
Mr Cheng’s wife and his children were finalising the 58 year old’s funeral arrangements, police said.
Three of the four arrested in pre-dawn raids in Sydney’s west have now been released from custody as investigations into the killing of Mr Cheng continue.
An 18-year-old man who was arrested at a home in Wentworthville remains in custody.
GUN ‘CAME FROM MIDDLE EASTERN CRIME GANG’
ARRESTED TERRORIST TEEN WAVED AN ISIS FLAG
THE KEY FIGURES INSIDE THE POLICE INVESTIGATION
FIFTH TERROR SUSPECT
The Daily Telegraph can reveal a fifth young male associate of the teen killer’s family, who is known to counterterrorism police and has links to members of a suspected terror cell, has also been interviewed but was not targeted in the raids.
Three of the four homes raided yesterday had also been targeted by Operation Appleby last September, in an operation that foiled an alleged Islamic State-ordered plot to behead a “nonbeliever” in Sydney’s busy Martin Place.
One of the teenagers arrested, a 16-year-old who went to school with Jabar, has previously been charged with waving an Islamic State flag at a nun and threatening to kill Christians. His home had been raided in Operation Appleby.
While Jabar was on the periphery of the Operation Appleby group, Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn denied police had dropped the ball, saying it was impossible to monitor everyone.
“(Jabar) has not been a target of ours and is not somebody we would have assessed as a threat,” she said.
“We did not know of him and having either that intent or capability on Friday.
“It is just a sad unfortunate reality of the environment that we are now in that we are not necessarily able to be everywhere at all times.”
SCIPIONE SHIFTS THE RHETORIC ON TERROR
APPLEBY TARGET LINKED TO ARRESTED TRIO
JIHADI RECRUITER
Operation Appleby was triggered by an alleged phone call between Australian IS recruiter Mohammad Baryalei, who is believed to have been killed in Syria, and Sydney accused terror leader Omarjan Azari ordering the beheading of a “random nonbeliever”.
The home raided in Guildford had been occupied Azari, 23, who is now in Goulburn Supermax jail on remand.
Azari was the only person charged after Operation Appleby. He is not suspected of having any involvement in Mr Cheng’s murder. Police officers yesterday wanted to talk to the man living in the granny-flat at the house.
At Lockwood St, Merrylands, brothers Talal Alameddine, 22, and Rafat Alameddine, 24, were taken into custody.
Police said the older brother was not detained as part of this operation but for an outstanding warrant for identify fraud and other fraud matters. Both were released without charge yesterday.
The same Lockwood St home was raided for firearms in February in connection after a tip-off about plans for a drive-by shooting at Downing Centre Courthouse but no weapons were found.
Mustafa Dirani, 22, was arrested at Booth St, Marsfield, which was also raided as part of Operation Appleby.
A neighbour said a regular house guest was Milad Al-Ahmadzai, 25, who is in serving a sentence for threatening to slit the throat of an ASIO officer.
AFP national security chief Neil Gaughan said Australia had seen three terror attacks since September and that the threat would remain high with over 100 persons of interest and hundreds more on the periphery — like Jabar.
WENTWORTHVILLE RAID
MARSFIELD RAID
MERRYLANDS RAID
GUILDFORD RAID
Text messages: Train workers told not to accept shifts on Monday
New text messages reveal train workers told not to accept shifts on Monday as rail union boss warns the rail network may face delays worse than last week, where hundreds of services were cancelled and commuters faced hours-long hold ups.
Read more
‘Humiliating’: Minister reveals crippling phobia
NSW Regional Transport and Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison has not been shy about revealing secrets about herself, proving her portfolio is the least interesting thing about the Maitland MP.
Read more