Five young men were arrested Saturday in Melbourne, Australia, in what police called a major counterterrorism operation.
About 200 officers were involved in executing at least six search warrants that resulted in the arrests and the recovery of “edged weapons,” police said.
Suspects planned to attack during a popular national celebration in a week, said Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Saturday. “The act that we believe was in preparation involved attacks against police officers,” he said.
But there was also a risk to the public, police said.
Terror and weapons charges
Two suspects were charged with terrorism-related offenses in Melbourne, said Australian Federal Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Neil Gaughan.
“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,” he said.
The suspects, 18 and 19 years old, also targeted a ceremony on Australia and New Zealand Army Corps Day, which commemorates the date when World War I Allied forces landed on the Gallipoli peninsula, police said.
It is called Anzac Day for short.
A third man, 18, was charged with weapons offenses. Two other men, 18 and 19, are in custody and assisting officers, police said.
None of the men are related. Two sustained minor injuries during their arrests.
Not representative of Islam
Abbott avoided the term ISIS to call out those, who authorities believed influenced the suspects. He instead referred to the group as the Daesh death cult, avoiding the term Islam.
Police also distanced the suspects from any ethnic connection.
The men “are individuals acting by themselves. They are not representatives of any religious, cultural or national group,” Victoria Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said.
“I think the entire Australian community should be concerned about the young age of those particular men,” Gaughan said. “And this is an issue not just with law enforcement, but for the broader community. … We need to get better in relation to identifying young men and woman involved in this type of behavior, at the very early stage.”
Australia terror attacks
The suspects were associates of 18-year-old Nadun Haider, who was killed while stabbing officers at a police station in September, police said.
Abbott lamented a string of extremist attacks on Australian soil.
In December, Australian authorities stormed a Sydney chocolate cafe where a self-styled Muslim cleric had been holding hostages, killing the gunman. Two of the 17 hostages initially held by the gunman died.
In February, two men were charged with plotting terror activities in Sydney. In spite of distancing the suspects from religion, Abbott did make a connection to the Middle East.
“There are now about a hundred Australians who are fighting with terrorists in the Middle East,” Abbott said. Another 150 people in Australia support them with funds and recruiting.
In February, Abbott announced tougher citizenship laws as a part of the government’s new counterterrorism strategy. Authorities have suspended Australian passports of those they suspect of terrorist activity.
Australian should react stoically to the attacks, Abbott said on Saturday, “The best thing you can do in the face of those who would do us harm is live your life normally.”
He asked Australians to turn out in droves to celebrate Anzac Day. Police said this particular threat had been fully contained.
