Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has confirmed a suspected terror plot to attack an innocent person on Australia’s streets could have taken place “within days” prompting the largest counter terrosim effort in the country’s history.
He said the “regrettable reality” is that it only takes one person to cause widespread terror.
The Prime Minister also confirmed there is one “key individual” acting inside the “ISIL death cult” in Syria sending strong orders back to networks in Australia to carry out an attack at home.
“The advice of our police and security agencies was that an attack of this nature could take place within days … That’s why they acted with great determination.”
“It is a safe country but we have to be aware that there are people even here in Australia that would do us harm,” he said.
It’s believed the individual Mr Abbott is referring to is Mohammed Ali Baryalei, thought to be the most senior Australian in the Islamic State, often referred to as ISIS or ISIL.
Mr Baryalei is a former bouncer who has appeared in the Nine Network’s Underbelly series. Authorities believe the 33-year-old Afghan refugee has been involved in the recruitment of at least 30 Australians for the wars in Syria and Iraq.
The Australian Federal Police has released a warrant for his arrest for “alleged terrorism-related activities” should he return to Australia. He is thought to have recruited other Australian IS fighters, including Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar, and boys as young as 17.
It is understood that not long after he arrived in Syria he began recruiting Australians to join him to fight with Islamic State. Among those he is reported to have recruited are SydneySiders Khaled Sharrouf, who has posted images on social media of himself executing prisoners in Iraq and having his young son pose with a severed head in Syria, and Mohamed Elomar, a former boxer who was also photographed holding the decapitated heads of his “enemies”.
Mr Baryalei also allegedly recruited a young Sydney couple, 22-year-old Yusuf Ali (also known as Tyler Casey) and his wife Amira Karroum, 22. They were killed in their home in the Syrian city of Aleppo during fierce fighting this year. Mr Baryalei is believed to have met Mr Ali when he was a leader of the Street Dawah movement in Sydney.
Both the Australian Federal Police and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation are believed to have identified Mr Baryalei as a person of major concern.
Mr Baryalei was listed in court documents this year when another man, Amin Mohamed, 23, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court charged over his alleged attempt to join the war in Syria.
Police alleged Mr Mohamed had obtained the contact details of Mr Baryalei, also known as Abu Omar, in Turkey to help him travel from Turkey to Syria.