ISIS Beheading Plots Shakes Australia; The Land Down Under Nation Estimates A Hundred Australian Fighters Actively Supporting ISIS Within Its Territory

By Staff Reporter | Sep 19, 2014 10:05 AM EDT

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The alleged ISIS beheading plots scheme have shaken citizens in Australia on Thursday. While Australian authorities estimated about a hundred ISIS fighters in Australia were actively supporting the terrorist group.

The alleged ISIS plot to perform random beheadings in Sydney was well thought-out as a meek and brutal scheme that shook Australia. However on Friday, terrorism experts queried whether the ferocious movement had the capability or proclivity to sustain a terror campaign so far from the Middle East.

The Australian authorities said that they disenchanted a plot to perform beheadings in Australia by ISIS supporters after raiding over a dozen properties across Sydney on Thursday. ISIS beheaded three Westerners in the Middle East in recent weeks, recording the brutal killings to make publicity videos that have concerned prevalent condemnation.

On Thursday, the Australian counterterrorism forces detained 15 people in a string of suburban raids after getting intelligence that the ISIS was plotting public beheadings in two Australian cities to prove its reach. As per an Australian official, two of the 15 suspects were incarcerated and were charged while the nine others were freed.

Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Andrew Colvin reported via the Associated Press that around 800 federal and state officers searched over a dozen properties across 12 Sydney suburbs as part of the operation which was the largest in Australian history. A sword was removed as part of evidence at one of the homes.

As the investigation continues, the authorities wouldn't disclose any specific detail on the plots. Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott acknowledged that it was difficult to protect the Australian populaces against such attacks.

Attorney General George Brandis confirmed late Thursday that an Afghanistan-born citizen who had spent time in Australia and is currently working with the militant group in the Middle East ordered Australian ISIS fighters and supporters to behead people and videotape the slayings.

PM Tony Abbott and Brandis did not identify the Australian but Mohammad Ali Baryalei, who is alleged to be Australia's most high-ranking member of the ISIS, was termed as a co-conspirator in court documents filed Thursday. Police have issued an arrest warrant for the 33-year-old former Sydney nightclub bouncer Baryalei. Omarjan Azari, a 22-year-old Sydney man appeared in court Thursday and is indicted of conspiring with Baryalei and others to plotting terrorist acts. Prosecutor Michael Allnutt said Azari was involved in a plan to constrain very serious transgressions that was evidently intended to surprise and perplex Australia. The accused didn't apply for bail and didn't enter a plea. His next court appearance was set for November 13.

On Thursday night, another man was charged in connection with the raids. The unidentified 24-year-old was charged with ammunition possession without license and unauthorized possession of a prohibited weapon. He was at large on bail and ordered to appear in court next week.

Authorities declined to divulge precise details of the plotted attack. New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said that now is a time for calm and the need to let people know that they are safe, and undoubtedly from their perspective, they know that the work will ensure that all of those plots have been thwarted.

Meanwhile, authorities said there are no current terrorist threats to the Group of 20 leaders' summit to be hosted by Queensland's state capital Brisbane that will bring President Barack Obama and other leaders of the world's 20 biggest economies in November.

Australia has estimated that about 60 of its populaces are fighting for the ISIS and the Nusra Front in Iraq and Syria. Another 15 Australian fighters have been killed, including two young suicide bombers. The administration considers a hundred Australians are actively supporting ISIS from within Australia, recruiting fighters and grooming suicide bomber aspirants plus providing funds and equipment.

According to the chief executive of the industry regulator and corruption watchdog AUSTRAC John Schmidt, a Sydney money transfer business owned by the convicted ISIS terrorist fighter Khaled Sharrouf's sister and brother-in-law, had its license suspended on notion for sending one million Australian dollars ($900,000 US) per month to the Middle East to finance terrorism.

As the ISIS beheading plots shook Australia, the country is currently on heightened alert for terrorist attacks. And while over a hundred Australian ISIS fighters reside inside its territory, the government is optimistic that the insurgents don't have enough inclination to withstand terror campaigns far from the Middle East.

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