Ethiopian Review

ONE alleged terrorist charged with planning suicide attacks on Sydney Holsworthy Army Base has refused to stand in court, while another has been granted time to rest after their dramatic arrest this morning.

Nayef El Sayed, 25, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court charged with conspiring with others to do acts in preparation for a terrorist act between February 1 and August 4 this year.

El Sayed, who sat behind bullet-proof glass in the dock, refused to stand when asked by Magistrate Peter Reardon, saying through his lawyer that he stood for no man and only to his God.

Earlier, the court heard that an alleged Melbourne terror cell planned to enter a Sydney army base and open fire.

Four men, including El Sayed, have been arrested in Melbourne in relation to the alleged plot.

Another suspect, Saney Aweys, who represented himself in court, said he needed time to rest after being arrested early this morning.

“They put me in a small room,” he said, adding he was told to have a nap with the lights on and federal agents around him.

“I told them I couldn’t do it. I want to put a stop to it now, I want to have a rest.”

In granting an eight-hour extension, Mr Reardon said there was sufficient evidence of an alleged terrorism conspiracy.

The men allegedly planned to use weapons to fire on personnel and bystanders until they themselves were either killed or taken into custody, the court was told.

During a police application for an extension of time to investigate and interview arrested Aweys, Mr Reardon questioned whether the alleged plot was a plan by those involved to become self-proclaimed martyrs.

Prosecutor Nick Robinson SC said that was a correct suggestion.

Mr Reardon said recent terror attacks in Mumbai, Madrid and London had struck at the heart of democratic society and AFP investigators should be allowed to fully investigate such serious allegations.

He said Mr Aweys should be allowed to rest until 6pm before the investigation into him could continue.

Police are also interviewing a fifth man, 33, who was already in police custody in relation to other offences. A 35-year-old Lakemba man is also helping police with inquiries.

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione revealed the man was picked up in Sydney this morning. He has not been charged, is not in custody and his house has not been searched.

Gallery: Army base suicide plot foiled

He added police had to move this morning because the alleged attack on the base was “imminent”.

“It was likely imminent and that was part of the reason behind moving as we have,” Mr Scipione said.

Multimedia: Terror raids across Melbourne

Mr Scipione said that had the alleged terrorists gained entry to the army base, they would likely have killed many soldiers.

“It was supposed that a number of men would enter into the barracks with automatic weapons to kill as many soldiers as possible,” he said.

Mr Scipione warned the terrorism threat to NSW remained real.

“It would be wrong for us to do anything else but accept that,” he said.

“Complacency is our greatest threat at this time.”

NSW Premier Nathan Rees said police had alerted him and Police Minister Tony Kelly in April about the planned attack.

During the application this afternoon, Australian Federal Police agent David Kinton said investigators had intercepted phone calls and text messages between several men regarding the alleged planned attack on the Holsworthy army base.

Mr Kinton said text messages seized by police involving other people discussed the address of the base and the name of a train station.

The court heard the group had shown a desire to attempt to find a sheik willing to authorise such a violent attack in Australia.

Mr Aweys, who was self-represented, said he needed time to rest after being arrested early this morning.

“They put me in a small room,” he said, adding he was told to have a nap with the lights on and federal agents around him.

“I told them I couldn’t do it. I want to put a stop to it now, I want to have a rest.”

In granting an eight-hour extension, Mr Reardon said there was sufficient evidence of an alleged terrorism conspiracy.

He said recent terror attacks in Mumbai, Madrid and London had struck at the heart of democratic society and AFP investigators should be allowed to fully investigate such serious allegations.

He said Mr Aweys should be allowed to rest until 6pm before the investigation into him could continue.

Mr Aweys was one of four people arrested this morning after police executed 19 warrants on homes in Melbourne and Colac.

Earlier, Australian Federal Police Acting Chief Commissioner Tony Negus said: “Police will allege that the men were planning to carry out a suicide terrorist attack on a defence establishment within Australia involving an armed assault with automatic weapons.

“The men’s intention was to actually go into the army barracks and to kill as many soldiers as they could before themselves, they were killed.

“Potentially this would have been, if it had been able to be carried out, the most serious terrorist attack on Australian soil.”

About 400 AFP, NSW and Victorian police launched raids at 4.30am on properties in suburbs in Melbourne’s north, inner-city Carlton and Colac in Victoria’s southwest.

They arrested four men – all Australian citizens aged between 22 and 26 – and are interviewing several others.

Mr Negus said the investigation involved a massive seven-month electronic and physical surveillance operation. Further investigations were being conducted both in Australia and overseas and more arrests have not been ruled out.

He said the men were seeking a fatwa, or religious ruling, to justify their plot, and it is alleged some of them had travelled to Somalia.

Mr Negus said police believe the men were linked to a group called Al-Shabaab in Somalia and had been supporting the Islamic insurgency there.

Al-Shabaab has been declared a terrorist organisation by the United States.

The counter-terrorism operation, dubbed Operation Neath, involved officers from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, AFP, Victoria Police, NSW Police and the NSW Crime Commission.

Al-Shabaab, which is using suicide bombers and jihadist fighters in an attempt to overthrow the Somali government, seeks to impose a pure, hardline form of Islam and sees the West as its enemy.

The organisation controls much of southern Somalia, excluding the capital Mogadishu.

The group is led by Sheikh Mohamed Mukhtar Abdirahman “Abu Zubeyr”, but it is believed a core group of senior leaders is responsible for plotting the group’s actions.

Al-Shabaab been declared a terrorist organisation by the US and it has close links with al-Qaeda leaders including Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, an architect of the 1998 attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in which 223 people died.

By Paul Anderson | dailytelegraph