A group of teenagers accused of planning a terror attack in the days after the Wakeley church stabbing allegedly called themselves “soldiers of Allah” and were willing to “die and kill”, according to police.
Four elderly children were arrested in counter-terrorism raids last Wednesday in Sydney’s west. Among them were a 15-year-old boy, a 16-year-old boy and two 17-year-old boys,
The arrests were made eight days after Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at a Wakeley church in the south-west of the city, sparking street riots on April 15.
According to a police fact sheet presented to the court, the four teenagers were planning a terrorist attack after the Wakeley street riots. The Daily Telegraph reported.
The alleged terrorist plot involved talk about obtaining weapons, including a ‘shotty’ (shotgun) and searching for empty houses to use as hideouts.
Police arrested seven youths from Sydney’s southwest during suspected counter-terrorism raids on Wednesday.
The communications of a group of four men were intercepted, revealing a terrorist attack plot.
READ MORE: Seven alleged members of a ‘youth terrorist cell’ arrested in raids across Sydney
A counter-terrorism team has arrested seven young men in Sydney’s south-west after determining they allegedly “posed an unacceptable risk to the people of New South Wales”.
The police also alleged that the teenagers had communicated that they were willing to die in the name of religious martyrdom.
On April 20, five days after the alleged stabbing and riot in Wakeley, one of the 17-year-olds wrote on the Signal app: “I want to die and I want to kill… I’m just excited.”
His 16-year-old co-accused responded: “We’re going to kill dw… but we need patience.”
The 17-year-old responded: ‘Is your plan to get caught, die or escape?’
The 16-year-old replied: “We will be planning for a while…we would rather escape, but whatever happens…it is the qadr (power) of Allah.”
Police alleged in court documents that this conversation demonstrated that there was an agreement to plan a terrorist attack as part of an ideological cause.
Another day, the 16-year-old allegedly wrote online that the teens were “Allah’s soldiers.”
On April 19, both the 17- and 16-year-old boys allegedly discussed obtaining weapons, including a “shotty” and purchasing two or three “dirty guns” for between $2,000 and $4,000.
The boys also allegedly talked about who their targets were in messages intercepted by police.
The 15-year-old was allegedly part of a Signal chat group called ‘Plans’ on April 19, in which teens allegedly discussed planning a terrorist act.
One of the teenagers called the alleged stabber of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel a “companion”
The 15-year-old allegedly wrote: “I really want to attack the yahood (Jewish people)… we will plan it.”
The teenager also allegedly wrote: “I want to do jihad now” and “Where do you want to do bayah?”
Bayah is an oath or promise of loyalty to a leader in Islamic terminology.
The police fact sheet also includes alleged discussions the teenagers had about the riots in Wakeley following the alleged stabbing at the church.
The teenagers called themselves “soldiers of Allah” and one of them said he wanted to attack the Jewish people.
The 15-year-old posted an Instagram story praising the boy who allegedly stabbed Bishop Emmanuel, police allege.
The teen allegedly wrote to an associate: “I know the guy who did it is my partner.”
Speaking about the riots, the 15-year-old allegedly wrote: “It’ll be Cronulla riots again.”
The police fact sheet also states that two days before the April 24 raids, the 15-year-old and one of the 17-year-olds were arrested for an unrelated alleged assault in Lurnea.
That’s when the 16-year-old wrote to the other 17-year-old, who had not been arrested.
‘Did you forget that we have plans on (his) phone?’ he wrote.
“Oh shit,” the 17-year-old wrote.
The 16-year-old allegedly said: “We were planning big things, bro.” It’s conspiracy for… conspiracy for a terrorist attack, I think…. If they search his phone then we will all be gone… yes, we are gone because. For planning attacks and this and that we are gone, brother.’
Police searched the 17-year-old’s phone after the alleged assault on Lurnea and allegedly found a note on his phone discussing the terrorist plot.
“There is much to plan brothers… think of yourselves now as soldiers… you are not children, you are ions of the khilafah and there is a correct way to prepare these things,” he wrote.
The four teenagers were arrested in last Wednesday’s raids.
None have yet filed statements and remain before the courts.
Two other minors were arrested but not charged.
The raids were carried out in response to the attack on the Bishop in Wakeley.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb said News from heaven on Sunday that the four accused teenagers were allegedly planning new attacks
Officers are working “around the clock” to establish the nature of those attacks in what is “still a live investigation.”
Police initially believed the boy accused of the alleged attack was a “lone wolf” before further investigation shed more light.
‘Ongoing investigations have revealed connections with that person and, as identified, we have arrested five young men. “They are associated with it, but not necessarily related to the church incident,” Commissioner Webb said.
He also explained the connections between young people.
“Well, there are certainly some similarities in terms of their school, not exclusively…they live close to each other and are connected in other ways,” he said.
‘That is what we will allege in court… we have alleged in fact that there was a group planning a future event.’
The commissioner revealed some of the teenagers attended the same school in western Sydney and allegedly had images of beheadings on their phones.
“Unfortunately, those images have been circulating for years, but we are very concerned that there are young people with those images on their phones,” Commissioner Webb said.