A 17-year old Australian was arrested on Friday, May 8, 2015 in a raid of his Melbourne northern suburbs home and was charged for allegedly planning a bomb attack and has appeared before the children’s court.
His charges include engaging in an act in preparing for or planning a terrorist act and with possession of things connected to a terror plot.
The teenager who according to reports cannot be named for legal reasons was arrested and remanded in custody and police say that by his arrest, a plot to detonate three homemade bombs in the city was halted. He did not apply for bail and will face court again on Tuesday, May 26, 2015.
According to local media reports, none of his family members showed up in court today Monday, May 11 for his arraignment, which also reported that the teenager had dropped out of school and was fond of posting radical statements on social media.
Five men were also detained in Melbourne in April for alleged plans to attack on Anzac Day ceremony. The Australian State and Federal police had prior to Friday’s raid launched a series of raids in its anti-terrorism campaign. The largest number of arrests made so far in the nation’s counter-terrorism operations was in September 2014 with an arrest of 15 people.
The Friday, May 8, 2015 raid in Melbourne came following a tip off to a security hotline which had heavily armed officers making the raid police and according to police information, they found three devices in the home of the teenager.
“There is evidence of a bomb plot that was in a reasonably advanced state of preparation,” said Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Saturday, May 9, 2015.
Police were however unable to confirm what the target of the attack would have been.
“But let me tell you, something was going to happen,” Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Mike Phelan told a press conference in Melbourne.
