The tinnie terrorist five

[Warrigal]

I should explain that a tinnie is a boat small enough to tow behind a car.

It's a long way from Melbourne to Cairns about 1,800 miles. These would be terrorists dragged a tinnie all the way north and were planning to sail to Indonesia, through the Torres Strait, and from there to travel to Syria to join ISIS. Their passports had already been cancelled and the authorities were watching them and arrested them before they could set sail.

Police set to charge 'tinnie terrorist' five over boat escape plot

Date May 15, 2016 - 12:15AM
David Wroe and Adam Gartrell

Musa Cerantonio outside his mother's home last year. Photo: Simon Schluter

Five Melbourne men who allegedly planned to take a tinnie to Indonesia to join Islamic state have been charged with terrorist offences. Islamic preacher Musa Cerantonio, who has been described as "an outspoken cheerleader for ISIS", was arrested near Cairns on Tuesday along with Shayden Thorne, Kadir Kaya, Antonio Grenata and another, so far unidentified, man. The men, aged 31, 21, 25, 28 and 30, have each been charged with making preparations for incursions into foreign countries for the purpose of engaging in hostile activities. The maximum penalty is life imprisonment.

All five had had their passports cancelled because authorities feared they would try to join the estimated 110 Australians currently fighting with the militant group in the Middle East. Police arrested the men in Laura, north-west of Cairns, on Tuesday. They had bought the boat in Bendigo, Victoria, and had towed it at speeds as low as 30 km/h.

It is believed police had been monitoring the men for weeks before they left Bendigo. Police had flagged last week that they might not have enough evidence to lay charges but had swooped anyway to stop the men leaving the country, in keeping with the increasing approach towards "disruption" of plots as well as aiming at prosecutions.

But they had also signalled that if charges were to be laid, they were likely be under "foreign incursion" laws which prohibit travelling to another country with the intention of engaging in hostilities. Such charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.

The Coalition has passed several waves of new national security laws, including changes which lower the threshold for arrest in terrorism cases and also allow police to hold suspects for longer before laying charges. This allows them to disrupt plots in emergency situations while also giving them more time to gather evidence once arrests have been made.

Police said the men planned to take the boat to Indonesia and then go via the Philippines to Syria.
Attorney-General George Brandis said it was suspected the men were "seeking to leave Australia by vessel to avoid the fact that they couldn't travel by air because their passports had been cancelled".

As well as Mr Cerantonio, Shayden Thorne, the brother of self-styled preacher Junaid Thorne was also among the five. Kadir Kaya - who openly declared that he hated Australia and wanted to leave on national radio little more than six months ago - was another of the men on the bizarre trip, along with a 25-year-old Antonio Granata.

Mr Cerantonio was once regarded as one of the most influential English-language extremist preachers on the internet. He was deported from the Philippines, where he had been in hiding, in 2014. Mr Kaya, 21, told Radio 3AW in October last year that he wanted to live in Turkey, but couldn't leave Australia as his Turkish passport had been cancelled and his application for an adult Australian passport had been refused.

The Victorian and Queensland Joint Counter Terrorism Teams said there was no current or impending threat of a terrorist act in Australia arising from the investigation. The five are scheduled to appear in Cairns Magistrates Court on Monday.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...scape-plot-20160514-gov9ji.html#ixzz48ixoiyTG

It can be just as hard to leave Australia as it is to enter.

 

[SeaBreeze]

Glad the police were on top of this.

 

[Warrigal]

I think our federal police are doing a good job of watching certain people of interest. They have confounded a number of plots to carry out a terrorist attack at home and have cancelled a number of passports to stop men going overseas to fight with ISIS. Of course there will always be someone who slips through the net but so far they have been quite successful. I am grateful for their diligence.

 

[Ameriscot]

Good job on catching them!

 

[Ralphy1]

Were they wearing those silly hats?

 

[Warrigal]

Probably not. Spooks don't wear uniforms.
It's rather counter productive to espionage activities.

 

[Ralphy1]

Probably the blending in approach does work as long as they don't look to hokey...

 

[Warrigal]

Another arrest today. This fellow was stopped from leaving for Syria earlier this year and then turned his attention to home grown terrorism. Note the words "police alleging he was attempting to buy a gun". It isn't so easy for terrorists to acquire a gun in OZ and the police are able to foil their plans.

An 18-year-old man previously stopped at Sydney Airport from flying to Syria has been arrested by counter-terrorism police for allegedly plotting an attack on home soil. The Macquarie Park man was arrested on Tuesday morning with police alleging he was attempting to buy a gun and had scouted sites in Sydney for an "imminent" attack.
Police said the man came to their attention last year, and was linked to others currently before the courts on terrorism offences but it will be alleged he was planning an attack alone.

"We are satisfied that any threat to the community posed by this individual has been mitigated," acting Deputy Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police Neil Gaughan said.

"We are satisfied that this individual was acting alone. We will allege that this individual was looking at possible sites in Sydney to undertake a terrorist attack and was making arrangements to acquire a firearm."

The man was allegedly prevented from flying to Syria in February and subsequently had his passport cancelled. He then allegedly turned his attention to acquiring a weapon and planning his attack in Sydney.

Police would not specify which sites in Sydney the man was alleged to have been targeting only that they were "institutions of authority".

The man will be charged with two offences - allegedly planning a terrorism attack and preparation for foreign incursions. Both offences carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

"We do have international obligations to stop these people from travelling offshore," Mr Gaughan said.
His arrest is not related to raids currently underway in Melbourne where offices are searching properties linked to five men

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/man-18-ar...planning-a-terrorist-act-20160517-gowtdt.html