Bottle shop attack was clue that cracked alleged teen terror case
A ‘dumb’ assault by two Sydney teens on an unsuspecting bottle-shop owner may have given detectives the final piece of the puzzle before swooping in mass raids on terror suspects.
A “dumb” assault by two Sydney teens on an unsuspecting bottle-shop owner last week may have given detectives the final piece of the puzzle before swooping in mass raids that ended with the pair – and several others – charged with terror offences.
That swoop by state and federal police may have proved vital, with one of the teens saying he wanted to attack Jews.
“Wanna do it to a bunch of Jews,” a 15-year-old charged with conspiring to commit an act of terrorism is alleged to have said to another of the six teens on April 20 on messaging app Snapchat.
“What about the Jews, brother? We can attack Jews here … I wanted to do it so bad.”
The raids, which included more than 400 officers from NSW Police’s Joint Counter Terrorism Team, came in relation to a 16-year-old who allegedly stabbed Assyrian Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel on April 15 and saw six of his “associates” arrested and charged.
In total: the 16-year-old has been charged with a terror offence for allegedly stabbing Bishop Emmanuel; three 16-year-olds and a 15-year-old boy have been charged with conspiring to commit a terror act. A 17-year-old and 14-year-old have been charged with possessing violent extremist material. All are from southwest or western Sydney.
“Why the f**k did they do that bro?”
However, an April 22 alleged assault at a Lurnea Bottle Mart by two of those since charged provided their phones – and the communications enclosed in them – to detectives on a silver platter.
The pair, with another boy, allegedly threw rocks and planks of wood at the shop’s manager, caught on CCTV and first revealed by The Australian.
It provided detectives exactly what they needed: phones, and access to the boys’ communications to one another.
The teens realised their chat group may have been breached – but remarkably, didn’t stop talking to one another.
“We’re actually done… I’m telling you now we are done,” a 16-year-old said to another of the accused after the arrests.
“I promise, we’re done … tell (your) mum you love her.”
Police will allege in court the boys launched their attack after being asked to leave the bottle shop due to their age. When confronted by police, they ran off but were arrested nearby, both allegedly in possession of knives.
The 15 and 16-year-old boys were each charged with common assault, custody of knife in public place and armed with intent to commit indictable office, and were granted bail at a children’s court on Tuesday.
Police allege that on the phone of one of the boys, police found texts from one the 16-year-olds, who discussed the need for a “stash house”, the “kuffar plan” and how the boys were “soldiers of Allah”.
The boys, who were already being monitored by detectives after being identified as “associates” of the 16 year-old who stabbed the bishop, knew that the net was circling.
“Far out … (referencing the bottle-shop incident) ... why the f..k did they do that bro,” one teen asked another.
“You know we’re gone for a long time if they go through his phone? You know that, yeah?
“These f..kwits are so retarded, bro. If I get done because of them.”
Later that evening, that teen told an unknown male he was concerned he “was going away for the rest of my life” and blamed another of the arrested teens for “being a snitch”.
The following day, the pair had grown concerned a detective was using their friend’s confiscated mobile.
“It’s the coppers,” one of the teens wrote.
Another said: “this has never happened in the 20 years our phones have been taken by the police, it’s never happened bro”.
“What about Jews, brother?”
The teens, who allegedly conspired on a Signal group chat called “Plans”, also corroborated on Snapchat and even TikTok.
On April 20, the 15-year-old and one of the 16-year-olds allegedly texted each other on Snapchat, airing their frustrations that they couldn’t partake in the violence that never came following the Wakeley stabbing.
“They’ve made peace with the Assyrians,” the older teen said.
In response, the 15-year-old said: “Wanna do it to a bunch of Jews?”
He also said “what about Jews, brother … we can attack Jews here” – saying he had worn his “junkiest clothes” because he “thought we were gonna go stabbing c..ts”.
Planned attacks involving shotguns, safe houses, machetes and hunting knives will be part of the prosecution’s case against the group of boys, some accused of planning a terrorist attack over encrypted-messaging system Signal.
Over the app, police allege the boys sought to buy a “shotty” and that one “really wanted to target (Jewish people)”. Another, police allege from messages obtained by the JCTT, allegedly wrote that he wanted to die.
“I wanna kill ... I’m just excited,” he wrote.
“We’re gonna kill (don’t worry)... but we need patience.”
Another, on the group chat, asked: “Is your plan to get caught or die or escape?”.
The boys shared screenshots of where they could purchase knives and police allege one the 16-year-old’s mentioned an Islamic State website that had recipes to make weapons.
One teen charged went so far as airing his alleged extremist views on social media with police alleging he posted in support of the terror attack on the bishop, and its “religious justification”.
On one platform, his profile picture is an apparent jihadi fighter holding a rifle to a television showing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cover photo includes a picture of himself, holding up his middle finger but with a stamp across his face saying “infidel hunters”.
The account also shared pro-Hamas content.
On another, he allegedly changed his name and used an ISIS fighter as his profile picture.
“I’m spewing there’s peace”
The police fact sheets also corroborate reports that the boys had been – in previous, unrelated alleged assaults – targeting members of the LGBTIQ community.
“NSW Police were investigating a series of assaults and aggravated robberies on four separate victims at different locations,” the fact sheet revealed.
“Inquiries revealed that several (associates of the teenager who stabbed Bishop Emmanuel) are suspected of perpetrating those attacks.
“The victims all appear to have been targeted because of their sexuality and membership of the LGBTIQ community.”
The 15-year-old, charged late on Friday by NSW Police, is being represented by high-profile Sydney-based solicitor Ahmed Dib, who declined to comment when contacted by The Australian.
His client, police allege, spoke on TikTok as early as January that he was “actually thinking about doing an attack”.
“My friends all support it, but I don’t think they would do it,” the 15-year-old teen told an unknown person.
Two days after the terror incident at Wakeley, on WhatsApp, the 15-year-old wrote to a local adult who urged him against retaliation.
“Stay away … okay,” the adult wrote to the 15-year-old.
“Control yourself and be careful.”
The boy, placated, warned of retaliation if the Assyrian community attacked Muslims.
“If they do, they’re getting dealt with,” he wrote to the adult.
“A lot of my boys were getting ready … I’m spewing that there’s peace now.”
On April 20, the boys were observed by detectives as they visited Greenacre religious centres, talking among themselves of their anger that tensions had started to cool.
One teen was spotted attending Greenacre’s Musallah prayer hall with a friend.
It is a mainstream and popular prayer centre for the local area.
The teens, all arrested across the JCCT’s widespread raids on April 24, were across points around the Greenacre and Bankstown area as police swooped in.
All remain before the courts, with the 14-year-old the only one granted bail, pending appeal.
More Coverage
LNP integrity rep caught in election rule breach
The LNP’s integrity in government spokeswoman has been caught running election events from her electorate office, defying repeated warnings from the clerk of parliament.
Police drop bid to stop October 6 protest
NSW police have abandoned a bid to stop a protest going ahead in Sydney’s CBD on October 6 – the eve of the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel – after telling a court it could be a ‘tinder box’ for Sydney.