Teen found guilty of Sydney terror plot

A SCHOOLBOY has been found guilty of preparing for a terrorist act and faces life in prison after he purchased two bayonets from a Western Sydney gun shop.

The teenager had gone to purchase two large hunting knives.

A SCHOOLBOY has been found guilty of preparing for a terrorist act after he purchased two bayonets from a Western Sydney gun shop.

Almost two years on from his dramatic arrest after buying the weapons to murder or injure someone, the teen, was silent as a jury unanimously today found him guilty of doings acts in preparation or planning for a terrorist act between October 6 and 12, 2016.

A knife that was found in a backpack following the arrest.

One of the backpacks found at the scene.

The court had heard just three days before the boy then just 16, went to purchase two M9 bayonets from the Bankstown Gun Shop on October 12, 2016 he posted online: “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieved”.

An invoice submitted to the court showing the purchase of two knives.

He had already gone to purchase two large hunting knives on October 6.

And when he travelled to the gun store a second time and paid $230 cash for the serrated blade bayonets and a knife sharpener, he left his Samsung Galaxy mobile phone at home.

Crown Prosecutor Ian Bourke SC said this was a tactic to fly under the radar of authorities.

But what the boy didn’t know is that undercover operatives were inside the shop watching his every move.

MORE NEWS:

Inside the love lives of notorious Sydney bad boys

Nurse’s acid killer ‘doesn’t deserve to be here’

Morrison considering deregistering CFMEU

When they swooped and arrested him a short time later at the Bankstown Mussalla he was furious and told them: “You’re all pigs, look at you like lambs to the slaughter. You’ll all die in hellfire at hands of Allah.”

A backpack containing the knives purchased was shown to the court.

Inside backpacks found at the scene there was an A4 note written partly in Arabic and partly in English pledging allegiance to the caliphate.

“I advise you to fear God and follow the steps of the Messenger of God and pledge allegiance to the caliphate because whoever dies without pledging allegiance will die a pre-Islamic death,” it said.

Police also found camouflage neck gaiters.

Police found an A4 note written partly in Arabic and partly in English pledging allegiance to the caliphate.

The first evidence of the boy being radicalised was at just 12 years of age, the trial heard, when he was pictured holding a poster at the 2012 Hyde Park riots saying “Behead all those who insult the prophet”.

He also refused to stand for the national anthem at high school assembly saying it was because he would “only stand for Allah”.

Federal agent Carrick May told the court about how the boy’s phone contained downloaded copies of ISIS’s Rumiyah magazine.

The boy’s barrister Bruce Walmsley QC had argued his client bought the knives because he had the innocent intention to go hunting on a camping trip, evidenced by some searches online around the two times he visited the gun shop. But Mr Bourke argued that the interest in hunting and camping was a ruse.

The boy now faces life behind bars when he is sentenced at a later date.