Australia’s Biggest Terror Bust: Public Beheading allegedly planned by ISIS

[Batista]

Australia’s Biggest Terror Bust: Public Beheading allegedly planned by ISIS



Australian police say they have foiled a major terror act, following the country’s largest ever counter-terrorism sweep.15 people have been arrested with one man, Omarjan Azari, charged with serious terrorism offences, apparently including the intent to carry out a public beheading on the streets of Sydney.

It is understood police believe that suspects were planning to behead a random member of the public and drape the victim in the flag of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, amongst objects confiscated by police in the raids was a sword.

Azari, 22, from Guildford, appeared briefly in court later on Thursday. Commonwealth Prosecutor Michael Allnutt told the court that Azari was part of a plot to commit an act to “shock, horrify and terrify” the Australian community.

The plan involved the “random selection of persons to rather gruesomely execute”, Allnut said.Allnutt told the court the accused had “an unusual level of fanaticism”.Bail was refused and the case deferred for 6 weeks

When asked about the alleged plot to conduct a public beheading, Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters: “That’s the intelligence we received.”“Quite direct exhortations were coming from an Australian who is apparently quite senior in ISIL to networks in Australia to conduct demonstration killings here in this country,” Mr Abbott said.

“So this is not just suspicion, this is intent.” Labor leader Bill Shorten described the allegations as “truly horrifying”.

“The reports of what these people were allegedly preparing are truly shocking. Like every Australian it makes me sick to the stomach to think that some of the images that we associate with other parts of the world could possibly occur in our streets,” he said.

Forensic experts collect evidence from a house in the Guildford area of Sydney on September 18, 2014. Australia's largest ever counter-terrorism raids detained 15 people and disrupted plans to "commit violent acts", including against random members of the public that reportedly involved a beheading on camera. AFP PHOTO / Saeed Khan (Photo credit should read SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images)
IMAGE: Forensic experts collect evidence from a house in the Guildford area of Sydney on Thursday as part of Australia’s largest ever counter-terrorism raids. (SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images)

About 800 state and federal police officers in New South Wales and 70 in Queensland conducted raids in Sydney and Brisbane late on Wednesday night and into Thursday.

25 warrants were executed in the sweep, in the Sydney suburbs of Beecroft, Bellavista, Guildford, Merrylands, Northmead, Wentworthville, Marsfield, Westmead, Castle Hill, Revesby, Bass Hill and Regents Park.Australian Federal Police acting assistant commissioner Andrew Colvin said the raids in Brisbane were a “follow-up” to last week’s arrests in the city and not necessarily linked to the Sydney raids, although the possibility was being investigated.

“So while the raids in Queensland are not directly related to what’s happened here today in NSW, the investigations continue and we are looking at linkages between the two,” Mr Colvin told reporters.The AFP today also launched Operation Hammerhead, which includes an additional 220 highly visible police at major events and flashpoint locations, to help counter terrorist threats and discourage public unrest related to extremism.

[Bigfella]

Not sure if its our 'biggest terror bust'. Certainly not our most important. We've busted guys with reasonably advanced plans to set of bombs in crowded places or attack army facilities (they got busted trying to buy guns). Under the current circumstances with ISIL it may well be our best remembered. media loving it. Good work by the various security & police services to gather intel & act at an appropriate time. Clearly these guys were being watched for a while. Thus far we have a good record on intel about these things, in part because the Muslim community has been forthcoming with information, in part because our security services have some impressive powers & clearly know how to use them correctly (a nice change from the situation that pertained from the 40s to the 70s).

The fact that wannabe terrorists are now reduced to planning low casualty high profile attacks might actually be seen as a sign of the success of the many & varied groups trying to fight this wrapping up or dissuading people planning bigger & more lethal attacks. of course, that is speculation & can only be proved in the long term. On the other hand, the nature of an attack like this doesn't require much organization, which makes it ideal for a 'lone wolf' or a pair of nutters. I fear we will yet see one of those attacks with all the terrible consequences that will follow.

Terror plotters betray weakness

Not much else to say really. The local Muslim community has been quite vocal in its opposition to extremism and is working hard to not only stop young men (and women ) travelling overseas to fight, but also to de-radicalize them here.

[Oracle]

Nothing much comes out of US/AUS/West. Makes me wonder if the MI5 is that incompetent?

[Killer Whale]

According to the ABC, a “very high ranking” member of ISIS phoned one of the operatives in Australia, giving instructions to execute a member of the public and post it online. Australian authorities who had these men under surveillance, intercepted the call, swiftly arresting them.

ISIS has shown itself to be a competent, operationally successful fighting force in Iraq and Syria—a crosspollination of military prowess with terrorist acumen. But for a high ranking member of its organisation to communicate by a phone call, (risking revealing his own location if traced by Iraqi security services), plus risking to expose the networks operational cover if Australian authorities had these men under surveillance, shows a lack of operational and planning discipline.
The Islamic State may be effective locally, but if the reports are correct, it shows a real amateurish attempt at the trans-national operational level.

[Batista]

According to the ABC, a “very high ranking” member of ISIS phoned one of the operatives in Australia, giving instructions to execute a member of the public and post it online. Australian authorities who had these men under surveillance, intercepted the call, swiftly arresting them.

ISIS has shown itself to be a competent, operationally successful fighting force in Iraq and Syria—a crosspollination of military prowess with terrorist acumen. But for a high ranking member of its organisation to communicate by a phone call, (risking revealing his own location if traced by Iraqi security services), plus risking to expose the networks operational cover if Australian authorities had these men under surveillance, shows a lack of operational and planning discipline.
The Islamic State may be effective locally, but if the reports are correct, it shows a real amateurish attempt at the trans-national operational level.

The thing is that they can be successful in attracting few radicals from all countries and those small numbers are enough to create terrorism.

Hundreds of citizens(including women) of UK,US,India,Pakista,Afganistan etc actually went to fight in Iraq to help ISIS.

[Monash]

Nothing much comes out of US/AUS/West. Makes me wonder if the MI5 is that incompetent?

Its more the case that the UK has a larger Muslim population. Percentage wise the UK's Muslim population is about 4.5% of the total compared to about 2.4% for Aus and less than 1% for the US. So MI5 has a larger number of possible targets to keep track of plus all their other non CT related work.

[Bigfella]

Nothing much comes out of US/AUS/West. Makes me wonder if the MI5 is that incompetent?

I wouldn't think so. FBI/NSA et al missed the biggest terrorist attack in history & the Boston attacks. No service is perfect, but the Brits are doing OK. What attacks have taken place in the UK since the London bombings? Events like that often come as a surprise, but offer a warning not only to the home nation, but to others. Since 9/11 & that round of bombings in Europe, what sort of attacks have taken place? Mostly seem to be either 'lone wolf' or very small scale compared to those bombs.

[Oracle]

Its more the case that the UK has a larger Muslim population. Percentage wise the UK's Muslim population is about 4.5% of the total compared to about 2.4% for Aus and less than 1% for the US. So MI5 has a larger number of possible targets to keep track of plus all their other non CT related work.

Yeah okay. I missed this point. The murder of Lee Rigby was going through my mind and how easy was it to chase a soldier down the street and hack him to death. This is not a regular scenario in the West that goes through my mind.

[Bigfella]

Yeah okay. I missed this point. The murder of Lee Rigby was going through my mind and how easy was it to chase a soldier down the street and hack him to death. This is not a regular scenario in the West that goes through my mind.

That sort of attack is hard to prevent unless the people planning it are dumb & you are lucky. In our case the guys involved were talking to the most senior Australia in ISIL about doing just that. Don't need to be a rocket surgeon to forsee he might be bugged. Unlike larger attacks or things like bombings (esp big ones) or shootings, where you need to acquire kit, all you need for this is a knife & a phone camera. Damned hard to pick up. What amazes me is that there haven't been more attacks like this. I'm pretty sure there will be.

The issue with counter terrorism is that you have to roll the dice on arresting people before a crime is committed. Our legal systems are really geared more to dealing with people once the crime is done, so you end up having to prove 'conspiracy'. The problem with those charges are that if you make them too easy to approve governments have a history of abusing them to jail people they disagree with, if you make them too hard to prove they let people walk the streets who might commit a crime. The eternal balance between liberty & security.

Most of the guys who do this stuff are on somebody's radar, but do you know enough to pull them in & charge them? This time we did. next time we may not be able to.

[Goatboy]

There's something so disgustingly personal about cutting someone's head off with a small knife. It's about the most "rude" thing possible to do to someone -- assuming we had the ability to strip away all the extra stuff: the violence, blood and horror (which is totally impossible of course).

[Monash]

That sort of attack is hard to prevent unless the people planning it are dumb & you are lucky. I

At least as far as Australia is concerned an analysis of the 'quality' of radicalized Muslims motivated to commit terrorist acts would show that a majority of the 'foot soldiers' are marginalized members of their own community i.e. poor, uneducated and with minimal prospects of success in modern Australia. There are a variety of reasons for this but the basic picture is what you expect to see in any criminal underclass, a history of petty crime, gang associations and drug taking, chronic reliance on welfare payments, a history of poor academic performance/school attendance, mental health issues, and a general inability to hold down regular employment. One or more of these factors lead to a grudge against a society that they then blame for all their failures.

Obviously all of the above are interrelated and at least to some extent reinforcing. There are of course exceptions to this pattern. But the end result is a pretty shallow 'talent pool' amongst the would be terrorists we have had to deal with so far here in Australia. As for the 'exceptions' the well educated and clever offenders are in turn somewhat hampered by the poor quality 'team mates' they have to work with. This is a positive for us and a negative for them. Same with ISIS, word on the street is that the senior leadership of ISIS is not exactly overawed by the quality and 'skill sets' of most of their Western recruits. So I would guess therefore that the same issues apply to European based fighters.

None of the above is meant to minimize the difficulties faced by my organization and others in dealing with these people but it does shed light on issues that can be addressed long term as a means of minimizing this subculture here and elsewhere. Lots of hard work ahead.

[Bigfella]

Lets just hope the dumb ones keep hanging out with the smart ones. Unfortunately I don't think we are that lucky.

[sated buddha]

Any information on which countries these guys hailed from originally?

[Doktor]

Any information on which countries these guys hailed from originally?

Does it really matter? The Black widow, the most notorious female terrorist is born and grown in UK, for instance.

Over here, we had a case were a 15 years old girl stole her sister's passport and departed to Syria. Out of 700 dead fighters against Syrian regime that originate from the Balkans 20 are from here. Just wonder what we will do when the survivors will come back home and we will be clueless as usual.

[Double Edge]

Good work by the various security & police services to gather intel & act at an appropriate time. Clearly these guys were being watched for a while. Thus far we have a good record on intel about these things, in part because the Muslim community has been forthcoming with information, in part because our security services have some impressive powers & clearly know how to use them correctly (a nice change from the situation that pertained from the 40s to the 70s).

may we all be as fortunate.

250 from Australia over in Iraq.

The fact that wannabe terrorists are now reduced to planning low casualty high profile attacks might actually be seen as a sign of the success of the many & varied groups trying to fight this wrapping up or dissuading people planning bigger & more lethal attacks. of course, that is speculation & can only be proved in the long term. On the other hand, the nature of an attack like this doesn't require much organization, which makes it ideal for a 'lone wolf' or a pair of nutters. I fear we will yet see one of those attacks with all the terrible consequences that will follow.

Meat cleaver guy in London who got the soldier.

Does not take much to create a stir.

Shootings take place in the US and its a local law & order problem. Couple of small bombs go off in Boston and the whole city and Logan got shut down. The media goes nuts. The bad guys get their PR.