A member of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) forensic unit inspects a garage at a house that was involved in pre-dawn raids in the western Sydney suburb of Guilford
IN PHOTO: A member of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) forensic unit inspects a garage at a house that was involved in pre-dawn raids in the western Sydney suburb of Guilford September 18, 2014. REUTERS/David Gray

Omar Ammouche, the 33-year-old counter-terrorism target who had earlier been arrested, was released on bail. Police claimed that Ammouche had a flag and clothing associated with Islamic State.

Counter-terrorism officers attached to Operation Duntulm arrested Ammouche at his Greenacre home on Jan. 9 and charged him with possessing ammunition. According to Ammouche's lawyer Adam Houda, the bag filled with shotgun shells belonged to his friend. Police claim that Ammouche is a supporter of the Middle Eastern militant organisation. However, he was granted bail after the lawyer argued that there had been an unfair effort by police to "poison" the magistrate's mind by referring to IS. He said that his client was charged only with two minor charges related to the possession of ammunition. Houda said during Ammouche's bail application at Central Local Court that no matter how much the prosecution kept mentioning about the extremist organisation, it would not change the fact that his client faced ammunition charges only. He said outside court that the officers wanted to give it a "terrorist flavour." "The raising of the flag was designed to do one thing and that is to poison the mind of the magistrate," The Sydney Morning Herald quotes Houda.

Mohamed Faytrouni, a close friend of Ammouche, claimed in the court that he was the owner of the shotgun shells discovered from the suspect's kitchen. He even had a receipt to prove that he had bought the shells from a gun store in Bankstown. He claimed that he had accidentally left the ammunition at Ammouche's place. He also said he had phoned his friend to let him know that he would collect the bag which he left there. Houda argued that his client had not been aware of the contents in the bag. Ammouche happens to be friends with Australian terrorist Khaled Sharrouf. He was one of the two people arrested when officers conducted a number of raids in western Sydney. Magistrate Les Mabbott granted bail to Ammouche on the basis of his friend's testimony even though the prosecution claimed that mobile phone records revealed that Faytrouni had not made any such calls to his friend.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@IBTimes.com.au