Police were busy in Victoria yesterday morning, 400 of them executing 19 search warrants in connection with a suspected terrorist plot. Four men of Somali and Lebanese descent were arrested. A fifth man was already in custody over an unrelated matter. They are alleged to have been planning an attack on Sydney’s Holsworthy army barracks. The arrests were apparently the result of a 7 month long police investigation.
The men who appeared in court today were Abdirahman Ahmed, Yacqub Khayre, Nayef El Sayed and Wissam Mahmoud Fattal. The fourth man, Saney Edow Aweys, was expected to appear later. They have been charged with preparing for a terrorist attack.
The raids were carried out because police believed a suicide attack was imminent. They believed Abdirahman Ahmed, who returned from the war-torn country only three weeks ago might have secretly obtained a fatwa from a sheik in Somalia. Two members of the group are believed to have travelled to Somalia to train with the militant extremist group Al-Shabaab, which the US believes has links with al-Qa’ida. But when other members of the group could not travel to Somalia, they turned their attention to carrying out an act of terror in Australia. Police believe the group planned to launch a suicide assault on Holsworthy army base using automatic weapons. It is alleged they planned to kill as many soldiers as possible before they were themselves killed.
The men showed their lack of respect for our society in court. Two of them refused to stand when asked by the magistrate – citing religious grounds, that they would not stand for anyone but God. Others claimed to be too tired to answer questions. Fattal, as he was being led from the court, accused Australia of killing innocent people in Afghanistan and Iraq and said "you call us terrorists – I’ve never killed anyone in my life". He also said Palestinians were labelled as terrorists while Israelis forcedly took land from them.
What I don’t understand is why these dickheads want to live in Australia but still carry on like they are jihadist savages in the back blocks of Mogadishu. If they want things here to be like Somalia, just fuck off and go live there. Better still, get themselves over there and into some inter-factional warfare amongst the various jihadi militias – kill each other, not innocent people.
It really pisses me off when people come to Australia and can’t leave behind their old hatreds in their old country. Message to these people – you’re in a new country, leave your grudges behind. If you want to continue them, fuck off back to your old country and fight away to your heart’s content, just don’t do it here. In this case its Somali and Lebanese muslims wanting to carry on the fight against just about anyone who doesn’t want to revert back to their 7th century version of how the world should be run. But the same argument applies to anyone, Arabs vs Jews, Serbs vs Croats, Protestants vs Catholics, Hutu vs Tutsi – I don’t care. Do not bring your hatred towards each other here – leave it behind.