MELBOURNE: Thirteen men arrested in Australia's largest ever counter-terrorism operation were strongly inspired by Osama Bin Laden and were involved in a plot to make explosives, a court heard Monday. Crown prosecutor Mark Dean said one of the men, Shane Kent, underwent weapons and explosives training at Al Qaeda's Al Farooq camp in Afghanistan and was committed to jihad, or holy war. Dean described another of the 13 men, cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika as the spiritual leader of the group and recounted an alleged conversation in which he urged others to wreak havoc. "If we want to die for jihad we have to do maximum damage, maximum damage, damage to their buildings and everything and damage their lives. Just to show them that's what we have been waiting for. You have to be careful. Trust no one," Dean quoted the cleric as saying.
The 13 men face a range of charges including membership of a terrorist organisation and financing and supporting a terrorist organisation. The committal hearing, at which the prosecution outlines its case, is likely to last around a month at Melbourne's Victorian County Court. Dean said the men, all from Melbourne, were helping a group of terrorist suspects in Sydney purchase laboratory equipment to make explosives.