Sydney terror planner’s messages to fellow extremists revealed

The secret codes used by a Sydney man who planned to carry out a terrorist attack in Bangladesh have been aired in court.

A Sydney man who plotted to carry out a terrorist attack in Bangladesh could be out of prison next year after a judge rejected a suggestion he wanted to unleash violence in Australia.

Nowroz Amin was on Monday sentenced in the NSW Supreme Court after he was caught in online conversations with overseas extremists making plans to carry out attacks.

He was also caught carrying a trove of extremist material, including Islamic State propaganda when he was stopped at Sydney Airport in 2016.

Judge Peter Garling accepted that Amin had since renounced his devotion to Islamic State and extremist views after being radicalised in the wake of September 11 and what he saw as the persecution of Muslims in Bangladesh - his parents’ home country.

Following his arrest in southwestern Sydney in 2018, he was charged with preparing for or planning a terrorist act. He pleaded guilty on the eve of his trial this year, but rejected the crown prosecution’s argument that he intended to carry out a terrorist act on home soil or in Syria.

The court heard he was caught in social media conversations with two people in Bangladesh during which he discussed his plans to travel to the country, as well as his radical ideology. He was caught with several extremist publications including the Anarchist’s Cookbook and magazines issued by Islamic State. The former amateur boxer also sought instructions on how to make an improvised explosive device and accessed a file on his computer titled How To Make a Cocktail Bomb.

Justice Garling rejected the assertion he was trying to carry out violent attacks in Australia.

Amin was sentenced to five years and four months in prison, backdated to his arrest in June 2018. He was given a non-parole period of four years, and could be released by June next year.

NCA NEWSWIRE