Third teenage boy caught at Sydney airport

A teenage boy with dreams of becoming an IS milit­ant was the third in less than a week to be intercepted at Sydney airport.

The 17-year-old, after being taken off a plane on March 12, was the third aspiring teen jihadi to be caught in a week.

A TEENAGE boy with dreams of ­becoming an Islamic State milit­ant was the third in less than a week to be intercepted at Sydney airport by counter-terrorism authorities.

The 17-year-old was taken off a plane and returned to his family on March 12 after being interviewed by counter-terrorism officers, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton revealed yesterday.

Mr Dutton said the incident was being further investigated by the Australian Federal Police and ASIO. “We need whatever tools we have to apply to this situation but the CTU officers are the frontline response for us to investigate these matters, stop people travelling to an almost certain death or for contribution to the death of others, and then ultimately if they do survive returning to our country,” Mr Dutton said in Canberra.

Just six days earlier, two high-achieving brothers from the prestigious Sydney Boys High School were intercepted en route to Turkey, a popular transit for aspiring jihadists, carrying luggage containing extremist paraphernalia.

The brothers, aged 16 and 17, were reportedly stopping off in Kuala Lumpur first They have since been returned to school.

Last month, Attorney-General George Brandis flagged an $18 million initiative to fund “real-time social-media monitoring” to keep ahead of online terrorist activi­ties and take down jihadist websites and postings.

“Many of these young people, even without the knowledge of their parents, are downloading and receiving information through social media and on the internet otherwise,” Mr Dutton said.

The most recent interception occurred the day before Melbourne teenager Jake Bilardi died as part of a co-ordinated Islamic State suicide bombing in Ramadi in Iraq. The 18-year-old’s blog post, “From Melbourne to Ramadi: My Journey” revealed his “love of Islam”, which he said led him to offer himself up for martyrdom.

“So essentially this death cult is reaching through the computer screens into the minds of young Australians, brainwashing them,” Mr Dutton said.

Government officials have inter­cepted about 200 people heading overseas to become foreign fighters with terrorist groups and believe there are about 100 Australians now fighting with Islam­ic State and other jihadist groups across Syria and Iraq. The government announced this month it was sending another 300 troops to Iraq, with New Zealand.