Sydney terror raids: NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn assures no specific terrorist threat found

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn has assured people after the Sydney terror raids that there is no immediate terrorist threat. She has told people not to worry and enjoy the Christmas holidays. However, should anyone come across anything suspicious, the police must be alerted immediately.

“I do need to stress that this activity today relates to events of last year. There is no current threat,” Ms. Burn said.

A number of terror raids have been conducted after the Sydney terror raids 2014, the biggest counter-terrorism raid in the history of Australia. A lot of terrorism-related materials and documents were seized. The new raids come after the Parramatta Police Headquarters shooting in October where NSW police accountant Curtis Cheng was shot dead. The Australia domestic terror threat level is at “probable,” which means public should exercise caution, reports 9News.com.au.

According to Sky News, two men, Mohammad Rashad Almouie, 20 and Abdullah Salihy, 24, have been arrested by counter-terrorism officers who suspect that the two were plotting a terrorist attack in Australia with many others. They were targeting police buildings and Woolloomooloo naval base. The raids were conducted by NSW Police and Australian Federal Police under Operation Appleby, set up in September 2014 to investigate 20 young men believed to be plotting attacks in Australia.

They raided homes in Merrylands and Bankstown on Wednesday and arrested the two. Until now, the Operation Appleby has charged 13 people.

“These are very serious charges. What we will be saying is that a group of people came together with the intent to do something and they started to make preparations,” Ms Burn said.

Almouie can be given the life imprisonment penalty if convicted. He has been charged of doing an act that would have helped in a terrorist attack. Salihy faces a charge than can land him up in jail for 15 years. He was allegedly making a document or collecting documents connected to a terror plot. Neither have applied for bail.

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