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Gordon
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The latest plot to be thwarted in NSW allegedly involved two 16-year-old boys who purchased knives and were en route to behead a stranger in Sydney’s Bankstown before they were arrested on Wednesday.
NSW Police deputy commissioner Catherine Burn claimed on Thursday it was the “11th imminent attack ... we have prevented in this country”.
“There have been four attacks, three have been in NSW,” Ms Burn said. –– ADVERTISEMENT ––
“While we cannot necessarily guarantee that attacks won’t occur, we know that the processes and what we are currently doing, we are doing everything we can to prevent such attacks.”
A recent US Homeland Security report revealed that Australia ranked equal third among Western nations as a target for Islamic State-inspired terror attacks.
The likelihood of Australia suffering another terror attack is “probable”, as ranked on the National Terrorism Threat Level.
“Credible intelligence, assessed by our security agencies indicates that individuals or groups have developed both the intent and capability to conduct a terrorist attack in Australia,” according to Australian National Security.
Here are some of the most recent alleged “imminent terror attacks” Australia has narrowly escaped:
PLOT: BEHEAD A MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC IN SYDNEY
October 2016
Two schoolboys who were allegedly preparing for a terror attack in Sydney’s southwest, with police alleging they had links to the Islamic State, were arrested and refused bail on Wednesday.
The 16-year-olds were detained in a laneway behind a Bankstown mosque about midday, hours after they allegedly bought two bayonets at a local gun shop.
Police wearing protective vests headed to the prayer hall after officers received information about the alleged purchase of the knives. The pair allegedly also had pieces of paper with religious statements on them, which the Daily Telegraph reported they planned to read out while they carried out a beheading.
Police said the students, who were due to start their HSC exams at East Hill Boys High on Thursday, may have been influenced by “radicalised peers”. One is related to a convicted terrorist and refused to stand for the national anthem at school two years ago.
PLOT: DETONATE EXPLOSIVES IN MELBOURNE
August 2016
Operation Fortaleza disrupted an alleged domestic terrorist attack at an undisclosed location in Melbourne, potentially involving improvised explosive devices. The AFP has not responded to questions from news.com.au in relation to this incident.
PLOT: STAB A NSW POLICE OFFICER TO DEATH
June 2016
A Sydney teenager allegedly planned a “serious” terror attack — potentially involving a knife — on a police officer in NSW.
The 17-year-old was charged with a “terrorism-related offence” after police were alerted to a series of social media posts where the teen had threatened to kill a police officer.
He was charged with planning a terrorist act and using a telecommunications network to commit a serious offence, police said in a statement.
NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione told media the teen “talked about ... killing a police officer” in the post.
“It talked about hurting a police officer, in fact killing a police ... officer,” Mr Scipione said.
Mr Scipione said the individual “indicated he proposed to act in the very, very near vicinity in terms of time”.
“He was allegedly going to conduct any act within a very short period of time,” he said.
PLOT: ACQUIRE FIREARM AND SHOOT CIVILIANS IN SYDNEY
May 2016
A Sydney man, 18, who had allegedly bid to join extremists in Syria, was accused of planning an imminent lone-wolf terror attack in Australia.
Attorney-General George Brandis said authorities had not acted until relatively late so more evidence could be gathered.
The man was “in the process” of acquiring a weapon, he told reporters.
“The judgment of the police was that he was intending to put it to use imminently,” Mr Brandis said.
He had allegedly been scouting out possible sites in Sydney to carry out the attack.
PLOT: BEHEAD A POLICE OFFICER & SHOOT CIVILIANS ON ANZAC DAY
April 2016
Sevdet Ramadan Besim, 19, pleaded guilty to a plot to run over and then behead a police officer before using his gun in a bloody rampage, after his plan was foiled.
A court heard he used an encrypted messaging app to try and obtain a gun to “terrorise” the “kafirs” on Anzac Day.
He allegedly wrote he was “ready to fight these dogs on there (sic) doorstep” in online communications with a person overseas, according to court documents.
“I’d love to take out some cops,” Besim is alleged to have written.
“I was gonna meet with them then take some heads ahaha.”
Besim was in regular communication with a teenager in the United Kingdom, who encouraged him to not only carry out the Anzac Day attack, but to break into someone’s home “and get your first taste of beheading’’.
Crown prosecutor Chris Choi said Besim, an electrical apprentice, tried to obtain a gun for an Anzac Day attack and, when that failed, a bomb manual.
He said he targeted April 25, “because here in Australia the kafir (non-Muslims) celebrate Anzac Day and I want to terrorise them on that day”, Ms Choi said.
He sent a text on April 16, “I want to learn how to make a bomb”.
The Islamic State flag appeared in his messaging avatar, Ms Choi said.
The Hallam teen was handed a 10-year jail sentence in the Victorian Supreme Court in September 2016 and must serve at least seven and a half before he is eligible for parol
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