Man arrested in US accused of plotting terrorist attack in Australia
The Australia Federal Police have confirmed that a man has been arrested in America and accused of helping to plot a terrorist attack in Australia.
According to a statement from the AFP the 20-year-old man was arrested in Jacksonville, Florida, following a US Federal Bureau of Investigations-led Joint Terrorism Task Force operation.
Joshua Ryne Goldberg was arrested on charges of distributing information relating to explosives and destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction, the US State Department has said.
Goldberg is also accused of plotting to detonate pressure-cooker bomb at a memorial in Kansas City, Missouri, on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York.
It is also alleged he passed information over the internet to 'facilitate and encourage terrorist acts in Australia'.
Investigations by the AFP in June 2015 established no initial threat to the Australian community, according to a statement from the organisation.
According to the AFP, the investigation was handed to the FBI when it became clear the man was operating in the US.
The AFP has supported the FBI in its investigations, it said.
Acting deputy AFP commissioner for national security Neil Gaughan said the man had tried to use the internet to remain anonymous.
"This man thought he could willingly and maliciously distribute disturbing information via the internet and never have his identity discovered," acting deputy commissioner Gaughan said.
"This operation again highlights how law enforcement can investigate people in the online space and use our long-established partnerships to bring people to account for their actions."
He said the AFP wanted to emphasise that ensuring community safety had been the main goal of the operation.
The criminal complaint against Goldberg details numerous conversations from the Twitter account of someone using the names AusWitness and AusSecret, who presented himself as a Muslim living in Australia who supported the Islamic State militant group.
However, the complaint also says that Goldberg, who was using his mother's computer in Orange Park near Jacksonville, was responsible for Internet hoaxes and had taken over the identities of other people online.
The complaint said a witness from Australia had identified Goldberg as an "online troll," who had used numerous identities.
In the complaint, FBI investigators said a computer owned by Goldberg's mother had the IP address of the computer associated with the email and Twitter accounts through which the conversations with the informant took place.
In one conversation recounted in the complaint, the FBI informant, referring to the possibility of a Jihadi attack, said: "We could probably figure something out," adding that he had "learned a lot" from a Syrian.
The AusWitness account replied: "That sounds good. What do you have in mind? Do you have any bombs already?"
Later, the AusSecret Twitter account sent guidelines on how to make bombs and suggested that the informant bomb Kansas City since he was near there.
The Twitter accounts have been suspended.
National news break – September 11
