Alleged terrorist goaded police, ‘Make me a martyr’, court told
AN alleged terrorist goaded police to shoot him and make him a martyr during a dramatic arrest sparked by fears of an imminent terror attack, a court has heard.
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AN alleged terrorist goaded police to shoot him and make him a martyr during a dramatic arrest sparked by fears of an imminent terror attack, a court has heard.
Police Special Operations Group operative 137 told the Supreme Court today he had a gun pointed at Abdullah Chaarani when he told him: “you could have made me a martyr, go on make me a martyr.”
The 27-year-old was driving with co-accused Ahmed Mohamed, 25, and another friend when SOG and federal police intercepted their vehicle on December 22, 2016.
MORE COVERAGE OF THE TERROR TRIAL:
IBRAHIM ABBAS PROUD OF ‘TERRORIST’ LABEL
SECRET RECORDINGS REVEAL ABBAS MOCKED AUTHORITIES
WANNABE JIHADI ADMITS TO PLOTTING MELBOURNE ATTACK
The court heard a police briefing immediately preceded the arrests sparked by fears a terrorist attack was imminent.
Chaarani, Mohamed and Hamza Abbas, 23, are on trial charged with planning a terrorist act.
Co-accused Ibrahim Abbas, Hamaza’s brother, has pleaded guilty to an identical charge.
Dramatic audio of Chaarani and Mohamed’s arrest was today played to the jury.
Police can be heard screaming at the men to crawl out of the car and stay on the ground with one officer warning: “I will shoot you”.
A covert listening device was in the car at the time and recorded Chaarani saying: “f*** these guys are serious, bro.”
Chaarani denies asking police to shoot him, but operative 137 said his memory was clear.
The court earlier heard wannabe jihadi Ibrahim Abbas claimed he told a series of lies to police about the alleged CBD terror plot because he wanted to make a statement.
“I thought it’d make the story more believable,” Ibrahim Abbas said during cross examination in the Supreme Court today.
“I was trying to make a statement. I’m making things up as I go just to add to the story.
“I was trying to send a message to the public about my stance and … how far I was willing to go to pursue my goals.”
Those goals, Abbas has testified, were to stage a large scale CBD terror attack during which he hoped to kill scores of innocent Victorians.
“I wanted to make sure that the casualties would be high. The bigger the better,” Abbas told the court.
“The bigger the more terror is achieved, and that’s the point.
“I believed that if I could do a terrorist attack here then that would prevent the Australian government from financing the war against Islamic State and it would send a clear message to the Australian public about the damage, the loss of lives, that occurs in the Muslim world where the Australian government is financing the war against Islamic State.”
He has repeatedly admitted lying to police during a formal interview following his arrest in December 2016.
He and his co-accused were arrested because authorities feared a terror attack was imminent, the court has heard.
Abbas made full confessions during the interview but now says he lied about the extent of planning for an attack including about making bombs at his Campbellfield home.
He has claimed he was the ringleader of the operation and was working to persuade his reluctant co-accused to take part.
He has compared himself to Jesus and the three other men his disciples.
“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 told police.
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.
The trial, before Justice Christopher Beale, continues.