ASIO citizen spies’ tip-offs help authorities bust would-be terrorists

Citizen “spies” are being increasingly relied on to help identity and collar extremists, with more than 14,000 terrorism-related invesrigations orimoted by public tip-offs.

Citizens turned spies have triggered more than 14,000 terrorism-related investigations.

Authorities are increasingly relying on the community to help identify terrorists as they struggle to track those on a watch list.

In some cases, the public tip-offs led to phone taps, physical surveillance and use of listening and tracking devices, with authorities almost daily asking courts for the required orders.

The nation’s top spy agency says its workload and the changing pace of its tasks remained high.

THREE MEN CHARGED AFTER ANTI-TERROR RAIDS IN MELBOURNE

TOP COUNTER-TERROR EXPERTS GATHER IN MELBOURNE

PLOTTERS GUILTY OVER MELBOURNE TERROR ATTACK PLAN

Police raid a Melbourne house last month as part of a counter-terrorism operation. Picture: AAP

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation says a terrorist attack on Australian soil would likely be cheap and simple, using weapons such as vehicles, guns, knives and explosives.

An ASIO spokeswoman said the agency resolved or investigated 14,227 leads during the past financial year.

Leads contained information relating to terrorism or “the promotion of communal violence”.

ASIO investigated each tip-off and determined what action was warranted.

“A number of these were referred within ASIO for further investigation, and some resulted in a joint investigation with law enforcement partners,” the ASIO spokeswoman said. One of the tip-offs related to a bomb plot using a Barbie doll and meat mincer on an Etihad flight from Sydney.

Staff at a Bunnings store alerted authorities about suspicious purchases of galvanised pipes and nail gun cartridges, which interrupted planning for a major attack in Melbourne on Christmas Day in 2016.

It was Bunning staff who tipped authorities off to a major terror attack in Melbourne. File image: Christopher Chan

Intelligence provided to ASIO also helped prosecute terrorists in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland.

There are 300 Victorians on a terrorism watch list, but Australian Federal Police and Victoria Police say it would cost billions to monitor each of them constantly.

After last month’s Bourke St attack, in which Hassan Khalif Shire Ali was shot dead after he fatally stabbed city icon Sisto Malaspina and injured two others, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said tip-offs — particularly from the Islamic community — were key to catching terrorists.

“That is why it is important for people to provide information as soon as possible so that we can try to stop any of these attacks taking place.”

[e-mail]

@AleksDevic