Inside Sydney terror plot: When ‘banana’ means gun and ‘wedding night’ means terror attack

THREE men used code words like “banana”, “party” and “wedding night” as they plotted an attack on an armed attack on Sydney’s AFP HQ.

Sulayman Khalid and two others have admitted to plotting an attack on the AFP building in Sydney. Picture: John Grainger

A GROUP of Islamic extremists wanted to hide out in the Blue Mountains to convert Aboriginal people in the hope of forming an “army” to wage a guerilla war, NSW court documents suggest.

Two men and a teenager on Monday pleaded guilty to planning a terrorist attack on police headquarters and other government buildings, in Sydney in late 2014. Jibryl Almaouie, 23, and Sulayman Khalid, 22, pleaded guilty in the NSW Supreme Court in Parramatta to conspiring to carry out an act of terror. Another person under 18, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also pleaded guilty to the plan which involved carrying out attacks on police and ASIO buildings.

Almaouie, Khalid and the teen are among six involved in the plot. Three other men, Mohamed Almaouie, Farhad Said and Ibrahim Ghazzawy, have previously pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of knowingly making a document likely to facilitate a terrorist act.

Ghazzawy was sentenced in May to a maximum term of eight years and six months in jail and will be eligible for parole in April, 2022.

Hand written notes and intercepted phone messages included in the tendered facts for Ghazzawy’s sentencing shed light on some of the group’s obscure plans. “The plan is gorilla (sic) warfare ... we are going to go to the woods and attack the dogs there, Blue Mountains and the surrounding forests,” Ghazzawy wrote in one document.

Almaouie added notes which suggested the group had decided to move to the Blue Mountains to preach Islam to local Aboriginal people in order to build an army. “Army = Buildings, Fortresses, Plans etc,” the notes state.

The group said they would start slowly but could eventually “own (the) world”. Other notes name the Australian Federal Police office as “a good target”. Almaouie, Khalid and the teen did not stand when Justice Geoff Bellew entered the courtroom on Monday. Neither did their families watching from the public gallery.

The AFP building in Sydney.

“Not guilty, oh sorry, I mean guilty,” Khalid said on entering his plea. The court documents show the group used codewords in an attempt to hide their plan from authorities.

The group referred to firearms as “banana” or “motorbikes” while the date of the planned terrorist attack was referred to as the “wedding date” while a meeting of the group was described as a “party”.

In a text message exchange between the teen and Khalid on December 3, 2014 the pair discuss sacrificing themselves for Allah, reported The Daily Telegraph.

“Tomatoes and BANANAS is our patience brother in al Islam make dua,” the teen wrote.

Dua being the act of supplication.

“I am going to get paradise through that banana,” one SMS read. Khalid and Almaouie were remanded in custody, and despite lawyers arguing the teen’s strict bail should be continued, Justice Bellew revoked it. The teen smiled and blew a kiss to his family, who cried, as he was led away into custody.

He will be held in a juvenile justice facility, Justice Bellew said. Police uncovered shotguns and a modified .303 rifle in raids of the men’s properties, as well as ammunition, a black and white Arabic flag and an SAS survival guide.

The charge of conspiring to do acts in preparation of a terrorist act carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

All five yet to be sentenced are due to reappear for sentencing submissions in early October.