AFP to take over Parliament House Security after 'chatter'about possible terrorist attack; investigation ...

AFP to take over Parliament House Security after 'chatter' about possible terrorist attack;investigation into thwarted 'beheading plot' continues - ABC News (Australian BroadcastingCorporation)

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AFP to take over Parliament House Security after 'chatter' about possible terrorist attack;investigation into thwarted 'beheading plot' continues

UpdatedSeptember 19, 2014 18:17:39

Photo:AFP officers will take over ParliamentHouse security (ABC News: Simon Cullen)Related Story:Counter-terrorism raids thwart 'beheading'plotRelated Story:Police to patrol Sydney landmarks 24/7 amid terror threatMap:Canberra 2600

Security at Parliament House has been ramped up after "chatter" among terrorist support networksabout a possible attack on government, Prime Minister Tony Abbott says.

Yesterday more than 800 police launched synchronised raids on houses and vehicles across Sydneyand Brisbane - the biggest counter-terrorism raids in Australia's history.

Four of the 15 people arrested have been charged, with one man accused of plotting to grabinnocent members of the public and execute them.

Further raids were conducted in Sydney overnight, Australian Federal Police (AFP) actingcommissioner Andrew Colvin said, adding that "we can expect to see more activity in relation to thisinvestigation in the coming days, weeks and months".

Mr Abbott said on Friday AFP officers will take over security at Parliament House, which he said hasbeen "specifically mentioned" as a possible terrorist attack target.

"There certainly has been chatter amongst the terrorist support networks of an attack ongovernment and government people and Parliament House has been specifically mentioned," he toldABC's AM program.

Audio:Tony Abbott talks to AM(AM)

"As a result, a week or so back there was an urgent review of security at the national Parliament.

"Subsequently we are placing the Australian Federal Police in charge of security, not just outside thebuilding but inside the building as well."

Mr Abbott said the investigation into the alleged plot was ongoing.

"The message from yesterday is that the Government of Australia, that all of the governments ofAustralia, will do absolutely everything we can to keep our community safe," he said.

The Drum: Analysis and Opinion The alleged beheading plot, but equally worrying is the way socialmedia is being used to promote terrorism, writes David Malet.Scott Morrison is just the politician torespond to the threat of terrorism that today sent a chill through Australia, writes BarrieCassidy.Raiding the terrorism alert level was just the first step in confronting the threat, writesDavid Connery.

"And where we have evidence of a likely terrorist event, we will act with great determination anddecisiveness to nip it in the bud."

The Defence Department has meanwhile confirmed the security alert level at all bases and buildingshas been raised.

Attorney-General George Brandis said intelligence officials believe an attack could have happened"within days" had it not been for the raids.

"Had this not been disrupted when it was, it would have happened within days," he said.

Mr Abbott said it would be "pretty difficult" for him to continue his trip to Arnhem Land, which hecut short yesterday to farewell Australian forces heading to the Middle East ahead of aninternational mission against Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq.

Mr Abbott had said he would return to Nhulunbuy today for the last day of his promised weekfocusing on Indigenous Affairs.

But he cancelled those plans, and instead called a meeting of his National Security Committee.

Counter-terrorism raids thwart 'beheading' plot

Photo:Members of the Sydney Muslim community rally in Lakemba on September 18, 2014.(AAP:Dan Himbrechts)

Photo:Police remove a sword as part of evidence found at a residential property in the Sydneysuburb of Marsfield on September 18, 2014.(AAP: Paul Miller)

Photo:Police search a residential property in the Sydney suburb of Marsfield, as part of the largestcounter-terrorism operation in Australian history, September 18, 2014. (AAP: Paul Miller)

Photo:Australian Federal Police officers leave a house in Logan that was part of anti-terrorism raidsacross Brisbane, September 18, 2014. (ABC News: Tom Forbes)

Photo:A resident assists police with a search on a residential property in the Sydney suburb ofMarsfield, as part of the largest counter-terrorism operation in Australian history, September 18,2014. (AAP: Paul Miller)

Photo:Police search a house in Mount Gravatt, Brisbane, as part of the largest counter-terrorism

operation in Australian history, September 18, 2014. (AAP: Dave Hunt)

Photo:Police outside a house involved in anti-terrorism raids in Sydney conducted by NSW Policeand Australian Federal Police, September 18, 2014. (ABC News: Lucy Carter)

Photo:Police at a house in Mount Gravatt, Brisbane, as part of the largest counter-terrorism

operation in Australian history, September 18, 2014. (AAP: Dave Hunt)

Photo:Police at the scene of one of the anti-terrorism raids in Sydney conducted by NSW Police andAustralian Federal Police, September 18, 2014. (Supplied)

Photo:An arrested man kneels after being arrested during anti-terrorism raids in Sydney, September

18, 2014. (Australian Federal Police)

Photo:Police inside a house during anti-terrorism raids in Sydney conducted by NSW Police andAustralian Federal Police, September 18, 2014. (NSW Police)

Photo:A man sits on the ground after being arrested during anti-terrorism raids in Sydney conducted

by NSW Police and Australian Federal Police, September 18, 2014. (NSW Police)

Photo:Police enter a house during anti-terrorism raids in Sydney conducted by NSW Police andAustralian Federal Police, September 18, 2014. (NSW Police)

Photo:Police stand next to a man arrested during anti-terrorism raids in Sydney conducted by NSW

Police and Australian Federal Police, September 18, 2014. (NSW Police)

Photo:Map showing anti-terrorism raids in Brisbane conducted by NSW Police and AustralianFederal Police, September 18, 2014. (Google Maps)

Photo:Map showing anti-terrorism raids in Sydney conducted by NSW Police and Australian Federal

Police, September 18, 2014. (Google Maps)Gallery:Anti-terrorism raids in Sydney, Brisbane

The ABC understands the raids foiled a plot involving a man believed to be Australia's most senior ISmember who called contacts in Australia and asked them to carry out a campaign of random publicbeheadings in Sydney and Brisbane.

Mohammad Ali Baryalei, a former Kings Cross bouncer and part-time actor, is understood to havemade the instruction to kidnap people in Brisbane and Sydney and have them executed on camera.

That video was then to be sent back to IS's media unit, where it would be publicly released.

Video: 7:30 reports on Australian connections toIslamic State(7.30)

Omarjan Azari, 22, from the western Sydney suburb of Guildford, was one of 15 people detainedduring the operation in Sydney.

He is accused of conspiring with Baryalei and others to act in preparation or plan a terrorist act oracts, court documents show.

Azari appeared in court yesterday, accused of plotting to behead a random member of the Australianpublic.

The court was told the charges against Azari stemmed from a single phone call intercepted earlierthis week and police made their move this morning to disrupt a group of mostly Afghan Australians48 hours after that phone call, concerned at how close it was to going ahead.

Azari was remanded in custody and will face court again in November.

A 24-year-old man from Merrylands has been charged with possessing ammunition without licenseand unauthorised possession of a prohibited weapon.

Two others remain in police custody and two women were issued Future Court Attendance Notices.

Nine other people detained on Thursday have been released as investigations continue.

NSW Police will conduct round-the-clock patrols of Sydney's iconic landmarks and major transporthubs amid a heightened security threat after yesterday's raids.

In Queensland, there were raids at Logan and in Brisbane following the arrest of two men last week.Authorities say there are connections to the operation in New South Wales.

The raids were the culmination of a surveillance operation by intelligence and police agencies thatbegan in May.

Kerry says raids another reason to destroy Islamic State

US secretary of state John Kerry used the raids as another reason to destroy IS while giving asecond day of testimony to Congress about the Obama administration's plans to attack the militantgroup in Syria and Iraq.

Audio:Kerry says Australian raids show why IS must be destroyed(AM)

He told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that Australia had arrested sympathisers andsupporters of IS who had been planning "some sort of extravaganza of brutality".

"I don't know how many of you saw it today, but the Australians today arrested a large group ofpeople that they suspected of being ISIL members, supporters, sympathisers in Australia who wereplanning some kind of extravaganza of brutality in Australia," he said.

"So we have to decimate and discredit a militant cult masquerading as a religious movement andclaiming with no legitimacy whatsoever to be a state."

The White House has also welcomed a decision by France to help the US bomb IS targets in Iraq,but not Syria.

Around 200 people from Sydney's Muslim community protested against the raids last night, accusingauthorities of drumming up hysteria.

The group heard claims of police brutality and political hysteria, and the speakers included childrenwho said they witnessed one of the raids. One said he and his mother were assaulted.

The crowd was calm and ordered but it was angry at what one demonstrator called "thepoliticisation of security".

"We are not here to disrupt security. Muslims are as much concerned about security and peace asanyone else but at the same time we are not fools," Uthman Badar from Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrirsaid.

Audio:New Sydney Archbishop: time for restraint, peacemaking, and respect for each other'sbeliefs(AM)

Political leaders including Mr Abbott have stressed that the people arrested do not represent allAustralian Muslims.

"I certainly don't want to isolate any community. I want to wrap up the extended family of theAustralian nation in an embrace," Mr Abbott told Radio National.

"That's what I want to do because we are all in this together and frankly we would all be the victimsof any terrorist attack here in Australia.

"I'm very encouraged by the fact that the overwhelming majority of Australian Muslims areenthusiastic about Australia, they're committed to our country and they have no truck whatsoever

with the misguided fanatics, with the blood-thirsty extremists who we've seen on our screens in theMiddle East and who regrettably do include at least 60 Australians."

How it happened

In the early hours of September 18, hundreds of police officers burst through the doors of housesacross Sydney and Brisbane in response to an alleged terrorist plot targeting Australian victims forbeheading on camera.

Click through to see how they unfolded.

Joint operation

The anti-terrorism raid is the largest in Australia's history, with more than 800 officers and multiplefederal and state agencies involved.

Twenty-five search warrants were executed across Sydney, and so far four of the 15 people arrestedin the raids have been charged.

Key suspect arrested

Neighbours say police burst into a single-storey home in Guildford about 4:00am, shouting throughloudspeakers and with a helicopter hovering overhead.

They arrested 22-year-old Sydney man Omarjan Azari, who was later charged with conspiracy toprepare for a terrorist attack on Australian soil.

A woman who identified herself as the sister-in-law of the people inside the home told an ABCreporter they have "nothing to do with terrorism".

IS beheading plot

Two days earlier, police intercepted a call allegedly from Mohammed Ali Baryalei, the Afghan-born,senior-most Australian within the Islamic State group.

In the call, he allegedly instructed Azari to carry out a plan to snatch random members of the publicoff the street in both Sydney and Brisbane - and behead them on camera.

Police made their move to disrupt a group of mostly Afghan Australians 48 hours after that phonecall, concerned at how close it was to going ahead.

The recordings were to be sent to the Islamic State media unit in the Middle East, and thenreleased.

Simultaneous Brisbane raids

Three houses in the south of Brisbane were also targeted by police in simultaneous raids.

The ABC understands that during the raids, police arrested some suspects who had machetes,balaclavas and military fatigues in preparation to carry out similar and simultaneous attacks.

The raids come a week after raids on an Islamic book store and eight other properties south ofBrisbane.

Accused faces court

Omar Succarieh, who was arrested after last week's raids and is accused of aiding the terroristgroup Jabhat al-Nusra, was refused bail after a court heard he was recorded telling his wife he hadto leave Australia before he was arrested.

Succarieh established the Islamic Centre at Logan, which was raided by a taskforce of Queenslandand federal police last week.

The court was told of a secret recording in which, Succarieh, from Kuraby, south of Brisbane,expressed support for the group.

Police brutality allegations

At a raid on a property at Marsfield, Maywand Osman - who was detained but not arrested - claimsto have been punched by an officer.

"I opened the door this morning at 4:45am to about four police officers," he said. "They asked me toraise my hands. I immediately raised my hands. Four officers then jumped at me and one punchedme in the face. They threw me to the ground and started hitting me in the head and pulling my hair.

"One officer grabbed me by the hair and said, 'You piece of shit'. While they were beating me I heardone officer say, 'Just don't make him bleed'.

"They then went inside my house to conduct a search. They found nothing in my house and I was notunder arrest or in custody at any point in time."

Note: Markers on map are placed to represent suburb location only.

More on this story:Sydney police to patrol landmarks 24/7 amid terror threatCounter-terrorism raidsthwart 'beheading' plotAs it happened: Senior Australian in IS 'ordered beheadings'Fears ofcommunity unrest in wake of terror raidsCory Bernardi renews calls for burka ban

Topics: terrorism, unrest-conflict-and-war, islam, laws, law-crime-and-justice, canberra-2600,lakemba-2195, nsw, australia, qld, act

First postedSeptember 19, 2014 06:40:10

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