How a rookie spy thwarted a horrific Melbourne Christmas terror plot
Three Melbourne men have been found guilty of plotting a Christmas terror attack at Melbourne landmarks Federation Square, Flinders Street Station and St Paul’s Cathedral in a jihad-inspired plan to inflict mass carnage.
Abdullah Chaarani, 27, Ahmed Mohamed, 25, and Hamza Abbas, 23, face a possible sentence of life imprisonment for their roles in the plot.
New details of how close their terror cell came to pulling off the 2016 attack can now be revealed after a court lifted a suppression order.
Australia’s spy boss Duncan Lewis has been reported as saying that a new ASIO recruit is responsible for identifying the men as a threat.
“The Christmas crowds were gathering and as a result of the exertions of a young ASIO officer — a young woman who had been with us for about five minutes — one of our analysts, had noticed a group of young men forming in an unusual way and going to a chemist shop late at night,” Mr Lewis, the ASIO director-general, said.
“They were in fact picking up the precursors for explosives. That was all the lead we needed.”
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