NSW police operation amid ‘teen terror seven’ threat

Seven teens linked to the alleged 16-year-old Sydney church terrorist have been arrested on the eve of Anzac Day, after more than 400 police officers executed 13 search warrants across NSW.

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw, left, and ASIO directorgeneral Mike Burgess in Canberra on Wednesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Seven teenagers linked to the ­alleged 16-year-old Sydney church terrorist have been ­arrested on the eve of Anzac Day, after more than 400 police officers executed 13 search warrants across NSW over fears of an imminent violent extremist ideology attack.

The Joint Counter Terrorism Team – led by NSW Police, the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the NSW Crime Commission – raided homes in nine southwestern Sydney suburbs and Goulburn in a major ­operation on Wednesday.

The raids, launched as ASIO director-general Mike Burgess and AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw publicly warned of a surge in counter-terrorism investigations involving minors, also ­targeted two men and three juveniles who are assisting police with inquiries.

Police were set to lay charges late on Wednesday night.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson said the seven teenagers arrested, aged from 15 to 17, have been under “intense scrutiny and surveillance” over the past seven days. Mr Hudson said police swooped on the seven juveniles, who are all linked to the Wakeley stabber and shared his “violent extremist ideology”, over fears the risk to NSW residents was “too great”.

“Meetings were held (on Tuesday) between partner agencies where evidence was reviewed and considered,” Mr Hudson said. “It was considered that the group … posed an unacceptable risk to the people of NSW.”

Mr Hudson and AFP Deputy Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the raids and arrests had no direct link to Anzac Day or any religious holiday. Jewish Australians are currently observing the week-long Passover holiday.

Invoking the 2021 Auckland supermarket stabbing and the 2015 shooting of Curtis Cheng by a radicalised 15-year-old Islamic ­extremist outside NSW Police headquarters, Mr Hudson said: “The terrorism landscape and ­radicalisation of youth is a ­continuing problem for us”.

Speaking at the National Press Club on Wednesday as the raids were underway, Mr Burgess said there was a “growing number of minors in the counter-terrorism caseload”. After falling from a peak of 50 per cent of all terror-­related cases in recent years, the number had “picked up again”.

“They’re a vulnerable cohort. Why is that? There are a number of reasons behind that. If your children are on their devices and seeing what they’re seeing – that can actually pollute and corrupt and radicalise young minds,” Mr Burgess said.

“We see … minors who get confused by the ideology … and when ASIO and law enforcement are ­actually dealing with this problem, we are at the wrong end of that.”

Mr Kershaw revealed the AFP had seen examples of children being groomed by Syrian terrorists through a gaming platform.

“(The child) had no idea … that really what they were doing was quite ­serious,” the AFP chief said.

Mr Burgess said Sunni Islamic violent extremism remained the principal concern and warned there was a 50 per cent chance that someone would plan or conduct an act of terrorism in the next 12 months. He said the most likely attack would come from an individual or a small group of individuals that “go to violence with little or no warning”.

Jamal Rifi, a prominent figure within Sydney’s Lebanese Muslim community, praised the police ­operation ahead of Anzac Day.

“If the police felt that there was a risk, we welcome their pre-­emptive action,” Dr Rifi said.

“The safety and security of Australia is the first and foremost (priority) for anyone in the Lebanese Muslim community.”

Dr Rifi, who played a key role with law-enforcement agencies during the rise of Islamic State, said there were forces “trying to pull the community apart”, particularly in the aftermath of the Wakeley church terror attack.

“Our social cohesion, reciprocal respect and civil duties are what bind us, and despite these fractures we will keep working together for the common good of this great nation,” he said.

Lebanese Muslim Association secretary Gamel Kheir, who was quick to condemn the attack on Mondaty last week, said the organisation had been “left in the dark” about the police operation.

“We don’t know (about the raids, arrests), we’re not being told, that’s part of the problem,” Mr Kheir said.

Mr Kheir, who warned the raids could spark social divisions, said his community was concerned that authorities were attempting to appease and reassure the public as opposed to a more thorough investigation. “This (a notion of widespread radicalisation) plays into this narrative that ‘we need to show the public that we’re on top of it’,” he said.

Raising fears that “guilt by association” had started to reappear, Mr Kheir said: “We are not downplaying it, but we have worked hard to dispel this narrative and I wonder if there should have been more due diligence and time to take such a leap (the raids). It (the church stabbing) was a heinous act, but we are worried (people) are still playing political football with the Muslim community.”

The JCTT had been closely monitoring the arrested teenagers following the stabbing attack of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church in Wakeley.

While police did not reveal whether the juveniles were using encrypted devices and communication channels, the JCTT is ­expected to gather evidence obtained from seized devices before laying charges in coming days.

Ms Barrett said the JCTT had identified links between the alleged offender in the church attack and a network of associates and peers believed to share a “similar violent extremist ideology”.

“At this time, we have no evidence of specific locations, times or targets of a violent act. I want to be very clear,” Ms Barrett said.

“We target criminality and not countries. We target radicalisation, not religion.”

With ASIO and the AFP urging resistant tech companies to enable lawful access of end-to-end encryption devices and chats, Mr Burgess revealed a “dangerous” investigation involving an Australian encouraged by ISIS extremists to conduct a terror attack.

“ASIO recently investigated an Australian sharing extremist material online. We suspected he was communicating with overseas ISIL supporters, and feared they were encouraging him to conduct a terrorist attack,” he said. “But we did not know for sure because the communications were encrypted. We used surveillance, human ­intelligence and other capabilities to determine if the Australian possessed the intent and capability to conduct an attack … And yes, we eventually learned multiple offshore extremists had encouraged the individual to conduct an act of terrorism.”

Mr Kershaw attacked Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta as a “disgrace” over its failure to provide details on the rollout of its end-to-end encryption system. “Our fear is that they … will refer matters to us but we won’t be able to action them … we don’t know who the end receiver is,” he said.

Additional reporting: Sarah Ison