War crimes investigator launches raids in major escalation

The elite anti-war crimes agency probing the involvement of ex-SAS soldiers in executions in Afghanistan conducted surprise raids in Perth on Wednesday as part of its ongoing investigations.

It is the first time the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) has launched raids on targets and amounts to a major escalation of its almost five-year inquiry into civilian deaths at the hands of Australian soldiers. The raids were confirmed by three official sources not permitted to speak publicly about the agency’s work.

Special forces soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan.Credit: Defence Department

It is not clear if the raids were connected to the OSI’s examination of disgraced former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith, although detectives from the agency have spent months finalising the statements of witnesses who have agreed to testify against the disgraced war hero over his execution of prisoners and civilians.

The OSI is examining suspected murders beyond the four cases that were part of the ex-soldier’s failed bid to clear his name.

Witness statements collected by the OSI also deal with attempts by Roberts-Smith to cover up his war crimes.

The raids were welcomed by SAS veterans who served in Afghanistan and who believe Roberts-Smith and the small number of other soldiers who allegedly executed civilians and prisoners brought shame onto the special forces regiment and should be held to account.

However, veterans who back the war crimes suspects turned to social media to attack the OSI actions, claiming the raids were unjust. One post claimed the war crimes investigators, who include some of Australia’s most experienced homicide detectives, were trying to “shake the tree” to find evidence.

This masthead revealed last week that the OSI, which has been investigating war criminal Roberts-Smith over multiple murders, including cases not canvassed in his marathon defamation trial, has secured the co-operation of new witnesses.

Roberts-Smith’s comprehensive loss before the full bench of the Federal Court – which affirmed the finding that the Special Air Service Regiment veteran ordered or carried out the murder of four Afghans – paved the way for the OSI to prosecute the former corporal.

The OSI is staffed with elite detectives from state police forces, including handpicked homicide investigators.

Sources said the OSI’s inquiries had proceeded far more slowly than the agency had hoped, but this was due to a painstakingly exhaustive and risk-averse approach adopted by its chief, former top prosecutor and judge Mark Weinberg.

Weinberg has sought to avoid the legal pitfalls that led to the abandonment in 2021 of an earlier federal police war crimes investigation targeting Roberts-Smith.

Five sources with knowledge of the OSI’s ongoing four-year investigation said its investigators had secured co-operation from key witnesses who had not participated in Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial.

The OSI is working closely with the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions as it builds its case against Roberts-Smith, having collected statements from over a dozen SASR soldiers who claim Roberts-Smith arranged or participated in executions, including an incident in which he kicked a bound civilian off a small cliff.

The OSI is working with the AFP to target Roberts-Smith and has secured more evidence and witness co-operation than the stymied federal police probe.

The OSI probe is not only aimed at seeking to prosecute Roberts-Smith but several of his accomplices who, like the disgraced war hero, were also found to have lied during the defamation proceedings to cover up war crimes.

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