Australia arrests alleged recruiters of fighters for Syria

Authorities did not name the two men but the assistant commissioner said one of the men was the brother of Abu Asma Al Australi, who was suspected of being the first Australian suicide bomber to die in Syria.

BRISBANE // Australian police raided an Islamic centre on Wednesday and seized two men for alleged involvement in recruiting and sending foreign fighters to Syria.

The raids involved 180 police and came a day after the country’s spy chief said he was “actively considering” raising the terror threat level over Australians’ involvement in overseas militant groups.

Australian federal police said the men, aged 21 and 31, were arrested for terrorism offences, alleging they were “involved in recruiting, facilitating and funding people to travel to Syria to engage in hostile activities”.

The younger man was charged with recruiting people to go to Syria to fight for Al Qaeda-backed militant group Jabhat Al Nusra, and with preparing to travel to Syria “with the intention of engaging in hostile activity”.

Police have yet to charge the 31-year-old.

Authorities did not name either of them. But assistant commissioner Neil Gaughan confirmed the older man was the brother of Abu Asma Al Australi, who was suspected of being the first Australian suicide bomber to die in Syria.

Mr Gaughan said there was no information at this stage that the men were planning a terrorist attack in the country.

On Tuesday, the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, David Irvine, said he was “actively considering” increasing the country’s terror threat level to high from medium, where it has been since 2003.

Mr Irvine said there were more than 20 people who had returned to Australia after fighting in Iraq and Syria.

The higher threat level would be “because of the influence of Syria and Iraq on young Australians both in terms of going to those places to fight, but also in terms of what they are doing here in Australia with a potential intent to attack”, Mr Irvine said.

There was a national outcry in August after a picture of a seven-year-old Australian boy holding a severed head in Syria, which ran on newspaper front pages, was posted on the Twitter account of the child’s father, Khaled Sharrouf.

The Australian father had fled to Syria last year and is now an ISIL fighter.

The country has stepped up efforts to stop youngsters from being radicalised and joining extremist groups. The government believes up to 60 Australians are fighting alongside ISIL militants, while another 100 are working to support the movement at home.

* Agence France-Presse