Reigning national super flyweight boxing champion Ahmed Elomar is among four Australian Muslims arrested in Lebanon on suspicion of having links to terrorists. And a second Australian, former Sydney taxi driver Omar Hadba, may have been the owner of a workshop found in the Lebanese city of Tripoli brimming with almost half a tonne of weapons and explosives.The Australian understands that Lebanese security authorities are also interested in questioning former Sydney-based hardline Muslim cleric Feiz Mohamed, who is linked to Elomar, Hadba and two other men arrested in Tripoli.
The arrests came after Hadba, an Australian Muslim, was arrested last Wednesday and alerted authorities to the other men. Lebanese soldiers arrived at a 3mx4m ( 10ftx13ft) workshop on Saturday afternoon and removed an arsenal of weapons and explosives.
According to a man who rented the adjoining shop, Mohamed Chawk, neighbours were stunned at the number of weapons taken away. "I couldn't believe that he was involved in all of this," Chawk said. "But when we saw them open the shop it was packed to the roof with guns. We are talking Kalashnikovs, M16s, sniper rifles, hand guns, masks, rocket-propelled grenades, land mines and grenades. It filled up one military truck to the limit."