Parents urged to dob in their kids if they suspect terror links
The arrests of two people involved with terrorist organisations in Syria have pushed NSW Police to urge all parents to help stop the spread of homegrown terrorism.
A teenager and a 24-year-old man were charged on Thursday in Sydney following counter terrorism raids.
Mehmet Biber faces 20 years behind bars for foreign incursion offences. He travelled to Syria in July 2013.
Police believe he had suspected Al-Qaeda links and that is where he learned how to use IEDs (improvised explosive devices). He returned to Australia in February 2014.
A 17-year-old boy was also charged and faces life in prison following the Sydney raids. Police believe the teenager attempted to fight with ISIS in January 2015.
Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn has since urged parents to be cautious about their kids' behaviours.
“The first and most important point is the mums and dads, brothers and sisters, friends, work colleagues and neighbours. You will be the first to see a change in their behaviour, please let us know," Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn said.
“They are the ones who raised them, they are the closest to them, and they get the sense as parents that something’s not right.
“It’s the little things, the subtle things they notice, when something is wrong or when their children’s moods change; when they spend more time alone, in their rooms and on the computer.
“When they are not seeing their friends, or all of the sudden they have a new, very different group of friends.”
Counter terrorism officers are focusing more and more on teenagers after 15-year-old schoolboy Farhad Jabar shot and killed Curtis Cheng on October 2 2015.
