Australian Teens Arrested- A group of five Australian teens arrested after they had been found to plan an attack during the ANZAC day ceremony in Melbourne on Saturday.
The assault was believed to be an Islamic State-inspired terror plot and is designed to attack and harm police officers. The five Australian teens arrested were found carrying sharp weapons including swords and knives.
"At this stage, we have no information that it was a planned beheading. But there was reference to an attack on police," Gaughan said. "Some evidence that we have collected at a couple of the scenes, and some other information we have, leads us to believe that this particular matter was ISIS-inspired."
Two of the Australian teens arrested were both 18 years of age. They plotted the attack during the Veteran's Day while another two, 18 and 19 were also apprehended in a separate place. One 18-year-old Australian was also taken into custody for weapon charges.
One of the 18-year-old Australian teens arrested during the ANZAC Day was Sevdet Besim. He was taken into custody and has been on a preliminary hearing. Besim is again due to face the court on April 24. He did not pursue for a bail, the TIME reported.
According to Sky News, investigators had found that the Australian teens arrested had connection with 18-year-old, Numan Haider, who was shot dead last September after wounding two police officers.
Haider was easily detected as member of terrorism group when he waved an Islamic State flag at a shopping mall.
Since September last year, Australia has become a target for the extremist group ISIS. The group's spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani once proclaimed last year that they include Australia for the targeted attacks.
Since then the government has increased the warning level as Australia has been a target of the extremist group. There were over 400 counter-terrorism investigations now being handled by the security agency.
The Australian teens arrested on Saturday were part of the massive raid done by the counterterrorism team of about 200 officers. On the same day, there were seven warrants served. Raids were planted in houses and properties
Victoria Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton stated that the attacks may be connected to edged weapons. The police official also warned that such attacks could again happen any time next week, according to Fox News.
Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan stated in a news conference that the Australian teens arrested had been part of their target for the last many months. Phelan insisted that now it is easy to distinguish a terrorist attack. He said "all you need these days is a knife, a flag and a camera."
Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced that terrorism including the recent attack done by the Australian teens arrested is becoming rampant in the nation. It is feared that terrorism has grown in proportion where a third of the terrorism-related arrests since 2001 happened in the recent six months.
