Two policemen to sue ASIO for failing to properly warn them how dangerous Numan Haider was

EXCLUSIVE: TWO policemen seriously injured when they were stabbed by a knife-wielding Numan Haider are preparing to sue ASIO for failing to properly warn them how dangerous the teen terrorist was.

Two policemen seriously injured when they were stabbed by a knife-wielding Numan Haider are preparing to sue ASIO for failing to properly warn them how dangerous the teen terrorist was.

TWO policemen seriously injured when they were stabbed by a knife-wielding Numan Haider are preparing to sue ASIO for failing to properly warn them how dangerous the teen terrorist was.

The two officers, both aged in their 40s, are preparing legal action against the spy agency, alleging it failed to provide them with all relevant information before they arranged to meet Haider at the Endeavour Hills police station in suburban Melbourne on the night of September 23, 2014.

The officers, who can only be identified as officer A and officer B, will claim they were underprepared for their meeting with Haider because ASIO had not passed on all the information it had, including a photograph of him from his Facebook page showing him posing with a black shahada flag, used by Islamic State.

Numan Haider.

While one ASIO agent has told a coronial inquest she did provide the information, others, including several police officers, say she did not, and the first they knew of the photograph was when they saw it on the front page of the Herald Sun the day after the attack.

Multiple senior law enforcement sources have confirmed the two injured officers were preparing the lawsuit.

Knowing he had no criminal record, was young, and had co-operated with police in the past, officers A and B decided on a “soft’’ approach to Haider when he met them in the police station carpark, as they did not want to intimidate him and he was not under arrest.

But the meeting went disastrously wrong when Haider, 18, produced a knife and stabbed both men, injuring officer A and almost killing officer B before officer A was able to get to his feet and shoot him dead.

Forensic officers aexamining the scene after Numan Haider was shot dead. Picture: Supplied

A coronial inquiry, which has been examining the case for several years, continues and is yet to make any findings.

The men were both part of an Australian Federal Police-Victoria Police joint counter-terrorism team.

They had arranged to speak to Haider, who was showing signs of radicalisation and was being tracked by ASIO.

ASIO agents and several senior AFP police met ahead of the planned meeting to discuss the approach to Haider. Officers A and B were not at the meeting.

Officer A is a member of Victoria Police, while officer B is a member of the AFP.

The lawsuit would be unprecedented, and it is difficult to imagine it would be allowed to proceed, given the embarrassment it could cause the spy agency, and the risk it could reveal operational tactics.

The case is being further complicated by the fact the two Commonwealth agencies involved, ASIO and the AFP, were represented by the same legal team at the inquest.

This means the two injured officers were not independently represented, although Victoria Police did obtain legal advice.

The Commonwealth is believed to be so anxious about the inquest findings it has written, on behalf of ASIO and the AFP, to Coroner John Olle asking for an advance copy of his report.

It is thought Mr Olle rejected the request and advised they would get the same 24 hours’ notice all other parties would before the report was publicly released.

Further, it is believed the Commonwealth last month wrote to Mr Olle reminding him of the public interest immunity provisions which allow some agencies not to disclose evidence to other litigants in court cases if doing so may be contrary to the public interest.

Further mystery surrounds the extent of ASIO’s dealings with Haider. Call charge records apparently show he made a call to an ASIO agent’s phone after he accidentally stabbed a friend.

It is also not clear if ASIO had signed Haider up as an asset, or if he simply had the number of an agent and decided to contact the agent in a panic after hurting his friend.

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