Man spoke to media just hours before NSW Police cracked down on his home
A 22-year-old man, whose house has been targeted in the counter-terrorism raid carried out by the NSW Police on Wednesday across western Sydney, told media on Tuesday night that the killing of Muslims across the world is more important than police accountant Curtis Cheng’s death.
The youth, who cannot be named, was contacted by Fairfax media on Tuesday night via Facebook. His reaction came when asked about his 16-year-old brother, who was arrested a couple of years back for shouting death threats while driving past a Christian school in Harris Park with an Islamic State flag.
"Why don't you do something useful?" he said. "And talk about real events occurring in Palestine. The killing of Muslims all ova [sic] the world. The oppressions in Burma, Palestine."
The 22-year-old man was arrested in 2014 during Operation Appleby raids but was released without charges. On Wednesday’s raids, two of his younger brothers, aged 16 and 18, were arrested.
Of the four homes targeted in the counter-terrorism raid carried out by the NSW Police, three are common from last year’s counter-terrorism raids in September. The fourth home in the row had also been raided by police in February following information of a possible disruption at the Downing Centre Court complex in Sydney.
A series of counter-terrorism raids across western Sydney were carried out by more than 200 police on Wednesday to arrest those related to the fatal shooting outside the NSW police headquarters in Parramatta. Four males aged between 16 and 22 years old were arrested during the raids, which were executed around 6 a.m. at homes in Guildford, Marsfield, Merrylands and Wentworthville, for having connection with the shooting. According to police, they have taken the arrested individuals to various police stations and interrogated them.
"The reasons why we have detained them [the arrested men] and we are conducting searches is because we suspect a terrorism offence has occurred and we suspect that they may have some knowledge," NSW Police Force Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn said on Wednesday.
The police are trying to find out who supplied the gun to Farhad Jabar for Friday’s attack at the Parramatta police headquarters, although The Daily Telegraph has since reported that the gun was supplied by a Middle Eastern crime gang.
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