Australian police foil New Year’s Eve ‘terror plot’v

[Deeq A.]

Australian police have arrested a 20-year-old man suspected of planning to use an automatic rifle for a mass shooting on New Year’s Eve in Melbourne. He was born in Australia to Somali parents.

Police say he had been on their radar since the beginning of the year and they believe he was an Islamic State sympathiser. They believe he was acting alone.

Police claim he accessed a guide book online produced by Al-Qaeda on how to commit terror acts and use firearms, but was arrested before he could purchase an automatic rifle.

“What we will be alleging is that he was intending to use a firearm to shoot and kill as many people as he could in the Federation Square area on New Year’s Eve,” said Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton.

“We are alleging that … he is a sympathiser of ISIS.”

Police said he will be charged after his police interview and will then appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court, either later today early tomorrow.

The foiled plot comes a year after police prevented another attack in the same area on Christmas Day, arresting several men who planned to use explosives, knives and guns to target the location.

Australia, a staunch US ally that sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq, has been on heightened alert since 2014 for attacks by home-grown militants returning from fighting in the Middle East or their supporters.

Around a dozen significant plots have been foiled since the alert was issued, according to officials, including a plot to attack prominent sites in Melbourne last Christmas Eve and a plan to blow up an Etihad Airways flight from Sydney to Abu Dhabi using a bomb disguised as a meat mincer.

RTE