Secret recordings reveal how wannabe jihadi Ibrahim Abbas mocked authorities and joked with mates after his arrest, court hears
SECRET recordings reveal how a wannabe jihadi who plotted a large scale terrorist attack in Melbourne’s CBD mocked authorities and joked with mates following his arrest, a court has heard.
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A WANNABE jihadi who plotted to stage a large scale terrorist attack in Melbourne’s CBD mocked authorities and joked with mates following his arrest, a court has heard.
Secret recordings from listening devices planted in a jail cell holding Ibrahim Abbas following his arrest were played on Wednesday in the Supreme Court trial of his brother Hamza, cousin Abdullah Chaarani and friend Ahmed Mohamed.
The three men have pleaded not guilty to planning a terrorist act. Ibrahim Abbas has pleaded guilty.
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The group had been under heavy surveillance until their arrest on December 22, 2016, after authorities became concerned that an attack was imminent.
The surveillance continued following their arrest and subsequent remand in custody.
Recordings played to the jury today revealed Ibrahim Abbas, 24, mocking authorities and laughing about how he lied to federal agents who interviewed him following his arrest.
“It’s the perfect time for me to bring up the biggest story, bro. Ha ha, I have pledged my allegiance to ISIS. I do want to destroy your nation. (Laughing) Like that’s all the allegations are I think they made,” he is heard saying.
Ibrahim Abbas, Mr Chaarani and Mr Mohamed are also heard discussing “tick tocks” with Abbas telling them he told police he was too stupid too work out how to make a bomb.
“I told them I don’t know how to make one. I’ve never made one. All I done was I got Hydrogen peroxide and it didn’t work. But how to make a bomb? I don’t know,” he said.
“Did you guys tell them you guys know?” he asked the group with one responding: “Nah, but they found stuff at his house.”
“One thing I told them is, you guys, I told you guys to buy ingredients for a bomb and see what we can make, but we never ever made one. ‘Cause we never could figure it out,” Abbas told them
The group discuss concerns about screenshots found on a mobile with Abbas calling one of them an idiot.
But he tells them “don’t worry, this is all good.”
“Maybe Allah’s planning something bigger. Like bro psychological warfare, that was the whole point of Osama bin Laden, to get them psychologically,” he said.
“Without even a fight, he’s going to get you out. (Inaudible) is gunna be fighting here and there, but the fighting is just a little part, you know.
“ ‘Cause we can’t beat you. ‘Cause the truth is we can’t beat you ‘cause you know you’ve got more strength than us. So we’re gunna F with your minds. That’s what he said basically.”
Ibrahim Abbas has told the jury he wanted to stage a large scale attack for Australia’s involvement in the war on Islamic State and had worked to convince his co-accused to join the fight.
“My goals were to cause as much chaos, destruction, fear, bloodshed. That was my goal,” he told police.
“I believe that to achieve this goal I needed the group, a group that’s gunna listen and do as they’re told and so I thought in a group, ah, we could do more, to put it simply.
“I was forcing them that we should, um, wear vests, explosive vests and then, um, we’re gunna ram a policeman and get his gun and then I was gunna give that gun to whoever I deemed fit to use the gun and then we were gunna go to the city square and, um, one person would use the gun and, um, I was gunna just — whoever I see I was gunna chop and chopping to kill,” he said.
Abbas said he was then going to order his co-accused to “blow themselves up”.
He said he spent about a month discussing plans with his co-accused.
He told police the group had considered staging an attack in St Kilda before turning their attention to the CBD and Federation Square.
Flinders St Station was also considered, he said, but ruled out because of fears the group would get trapped inside the station.
He said he didn’t “hate Australians because they’re Australians. It’s because of what their leaders are doing to innocent people overseas”.
Abbas has testified that he was inspired by Al-Qaeda and ISIS leaders including Osama bin Laden and had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State in 2014 after a caliphate was announced by Abu Mohammed al-Adnani.
The trial, before Justice Christopher Beale, continues.