'Terror cell' sent money to extremists

POLICE believe members of an alleged Melbourne terror cell have been providing funding to the militant extremist group al-Shabaab in Somalia.

POLICE believe members of an alleged Melbourne terror cell have been providing funding to the militant extremist group al-Shabaab in Somalia.

But charges are unlikely to be brought against the men because the amounts involved were small and convictions would be difficult to obtain, given that al-Shabaab is not listed in Australia as a terrorist organisation.

The revelations come as police laid terror charges against another four of the men arrested in Tuesday morning's dawn raids, including counts of planning to go to Somalia to fight in the civil war and helping someone else do the same.

A Melbourne Magistrates Court hearing for the men yesterday was tense, with family and friends clashing verbally with police as they entered the court.

Inside the court, one of the accused, 33-year-old Wissam Mahmoud Fattal, launched a tirade about the Australian military being the real terrorists.

"You call me a terrorist, I have never killed anyone in my life," Mr Fattal shouted.

"Your army kills innocent people in Iraq."

Mr Fattal also attacked Israeli forces, commented on the Palestinian situation and said Australian troops were killing innocent people in Afghanistan.

"Take me from this country," he said as he was being led from the court by security guards.

In the courtroom, supporters of the accused showed little respect for magistrate Peter Reardon, reading newspapers, talking and even pointing out to one suspect in the dock that his face was on the front page. "It's not a library, if you want to read the newspaper, go outside," Mr Reardon snapped at three young men.

Police have alleged that members of the accused group wanted to go to Somalia to fight with al-Shabaab, which is said to be linked with al-Qa'ida.

Charge sheets tendered to the court reveal that police allege Saney Edow Aweys conducted "preparations" to go "engage in hostile activities" in Somalia between June 1 and August 4.

They also allege the 26-year-old boilermaker from Carlton North aided and abetted Walid Osman Mohamed in going to Somalia to engage in a "hostile act" from November 14 last year to August 4.

The third charge Mr Aweys faces is conspiring with Wissam Mahmoud Fattal, Nayef El Sayed, Yacqub Khayre and Abdirahman Ahmed to prepare for a terrorist attack on the Holsworthy army base in Sydney's southwest.

Mr Ahmed, 25, is also charged with helping Mr Mohamed go to Somalia to fight, as well as conspiring with the four others to launch a suicide attack on the Holsworthy army base.

The court heard Mr Khayre, 22, and Mr Fattal, 33, had also been charged with the same terrorism offence.

The Australian has learned that during the course of the seven-month investigation, dubbed Operation Neath, authorities allegedly uncovered evidence the terror suspects had sent funds from Melbourne to members of al-Shabaab in Somalia. The sums detected were relatively small, amounting only to thousands of dollars. It is the first time direct funding from Australia to extremists in Somalia has been detected. A previous 2007 Australian Federal Police investigation into a suspected funding of Islamic extremists in Somalia by members of Melbourne's Somali community did not identify illegal funding.

The AFP said yesterday it would investigate what it described as a "security breach" that resulted in The Australian obtaining details of the counter terrorism operation six days before raids took place. Victoria's Office of Police Integrity is conducting its own investigation into how the newspaper obtained the story.