 The Federal Police Commissioner says five men convicted of terrorism offences had amassed enough material to kill large numbers of elk people. The five have been found guilty of planning a terrorist act and could face life sentences, following Australia's longest terrorism trial.
AFP Commissioner Tony Negus says the men had large amounts of material to make bombs, along with weapons and ammunition. "We are talking about the capability here to affect a significant atrocity on Australians," he said. "This had the capability to do some serious damage and take serious numbers of human lives."
The investigation began in the middle of 2004, when ASIO, the AFP, New South Wales Police and the New South Wales Crime Commission watched, listened and probed for another year and a half before making their move. In November 2005 they swooped in an operation involving more than 650 state and federal officers.
After eight months of preliminary legal argument and a 10-month trial, the jury took more than three weeks to reach its verdict. They had spent 30 days watching and listening to surveillance tapes and heard 18 hours of phone taps.
What the jury did not know when it handed down its verdict was that four other men who were part of the same plot had already pleaded guilty and been sentenced to as much as 18 years in jail.
But supporters of the would-be terrorists rejected the jury's finding immediately. "The case has been going for about several years and what I know is that they haven't found nothing on them," one supporter said.
| "They're as pure as the driven snow!" |
Because of other ongoing trials, the men in this case still cannot be named but Mohammed, the nephew of one of the men, spoke outside the court to protest his uncle's innocence. "My uncle [is] the best person. I mean best family friend, my uncle," he said. "I've never suspicioned anything on my uncle. Obviously I can't tell you if it was but he wasn't part of that."
| "He was a good man! Always giving ammo to the widows!" |
| "Why, he loved the orphans like they was his own sons. And the little orphanettes, too." |
All of the would-be terrorists denied the charges and the evidence against them was circumstantial.
But according to the prosecution, they were committed to an extremist and violent form of Islam and this went way beyond rhetoric, bearing all the hallmarks of a full-blown terrorist plot in the making. To start with, according to the prosecution, the men had a powerful motive - to terrify Australians with a violent act of jihad to strike back in response to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
| Terrifying Australians? There's a tall order ... |
In addition, they had set about getting the means to turn their thoughts into reality. All they needed was the opportunity. But this was a terrorism conspiracy case, so the prosecution did not prove the men had ever settled on an actual target or planned a specific act.
For their part, the conspirators argued they had an innocent explanation for the circumstantial evidence ranged against them. They say the large amount of literature supporting mass murder and martyrdom was a view commonly held by many Australians.
| The ones that match a given definition of many and a particular definition of Australian. |
They also said that paramilitary-style training camps in far western New South Wales were harmless hunting trips - just mates out having fun in the bush.
They also had mobile phones purchased using false names, as well as night vision gear, and the ring leader was found with enough weapons and ammunition to fuel a two-day shooting spree.
But that was not enough to convince nephew Mohammed they were up to anything sinister. "It doesn't matter if he had enough ammunition to fire for one hour or 24 hours. They're licensed guns and you can't say nothing about them," he said. "They're licensed guns. You can have up to 400 weapons, 600 weapons. He used to go hunting."
| "Them elk are pretty big!" |
| "The wild camels done become pests,too -- I read about it in the paper. Uncle was just trying to do his civic duty as a good citizen to hunt them all down with his fifty-leventy shootin' spree guns and ammo. You kufrs should give him a medal!" |
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