Terror arrest: Claims teenager Tamim Khaja sought to buy suicide vest online

Tamin Khaja, 18, was arrested in Parramatta Stadium carpark yesterday after allegedly trying to buy a suicide vest online. He first came to the attention of authorities with his behaviour at Epping Boys High School.

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A SYDNEY teenager facing terrorism charges after yesterday being arrested in the Parramatta Stadium carpark had allegedly once tried to buy a suicide vest online.

It’s understood 18-year-old Tamim Khaja, a former student of Epping Boys High School, was arrested as he tried to make new arrangements to buy a gun. He had a number of government targets in his sights, including the potential of a police station.

He is now facing charges of one count of planning a terrorism attack and one of preparing for foreign incursions.

The Joint Counter-Terrorism Taskforce takes Tamim Khaja into custody. Picture: Supplied by NSW Police

Tamim Khaja / Supplied

An AFP officer searches a car.

Authorities claim they were warned about the 18-year-old via a call to the national terror hotline earlier this year.

He was then stopped at Sydney Airport in February trying to travel to Syria and his passport was cancelled.

“Since that time he has been under the surveillance of the relevant authorities who have decided to act to prevent an imminent terrorism event,” federal Attorney-General George Brandis said.

The teenager first came to official attention as a student at the suburban high school where he preached in the playground.

Students said he referred to himself as a “mini sheik’’.

Khaja was barefooted at the time of his arrest. Picture: Supplied by NSW Police

The Daily Telegraph understands the tip to the national terror hotline came from a school peer.

Khaja is known to have links to hard-line Sydney radicals such as Milad bin Ahmad-Shah al-­Ahmadzai, a self-confessed ­jihadist awaiting sentencing for shooting with intent to kill.

Khaja’s parents fled war-torn Afghanistan for a better life and are not considered zealots.

They kept a low profile while police searched their Macquarie Park home yesterday following their son’s arrest.

A bright green plastic bag laden with metal objects, understood to be ball bearings and screws, was found by counter-terrorism police stuffed into the door of one of the Khajas’ vehicles.

Authorities say they were tipped off via the national terror hotline. Picture: Supplied by NSW Police

Khaja’s solicitor said his parents were shocked and devastated. Picture: Supplied by NSW Police

Police executing the search warrant yesterday in Macquarie Park. Picture: Justin Sanson

From the same car police seized a prayer mat, several receipts, a mobile phone and a USB. Officers also found three number plates in two other vehicles, as well as a receipt for a Western Union money transfer to Pakistan stuffed in the boot among house painting implements and his sister’s school books.

Khaja’s solicitor Osman Samin said his client’s parents were “devastated” and “shocked”. He said it was unlikely his client would apply for bail when he ­appeared at Parramatta Local Court this morning.

Police said the arrest was left “late’’ while evidence was gathered.

Cartoonist Warren Brown’s view.