VZCZCXRO3955
RR RUEHPT
DE RUEHBN #0090/01 2170719
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
R 050719Z AUG 09
FM AMCONSUL MELBOURNE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4978
INFO RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 3621
RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH 1595
RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY 2114
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 MELBOURNE 000090 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PLEASE PASS TO HOMELAND SECURITY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/03/2019 
TAGS: PTER PINR PREL AS
SUBJECT: 4 ARRESTED IN MORNING TERROR RAIDS ACROSS VICTORIA 
 
REF: A. A) MELBOURNE 18 
     ¶B. B) 08 MELBOURNE 117 
     ¶C. C) 08 MELBOURNE 66 
     ¶D. D) 08 CANBERRA 909 
 
Classified By: JIM COLE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B), (D) 
 
  SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Four men were arrested and 19 homes were raided 
in Victoria this morning by federal and state police as a 
result of an ongoing terror investigation. The four men 
were allegedly planning suicide attacks against Australian 
targets. Victorian Chief of Police Simon Overland praised 
the efforts of state and federal police. More details are 
expected be forthcoming when the suspects appear in court 
either today or tomorrow. Prime Minister Rudd 
made a statement reassuring the population that the 
Australian terror-threat level would not need to be raised. 
 
END SUMMARY 
 
Embassy Canberra alerted by Australians 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (S/NF) August 3, the day before the arrests, the 
Australians briefed Embassy LEGATT, RSO and ORA on the 
upcoming police action in Melbourne and gave them the names 
of six Persons of Interest (POIs), NAYEF EL SAYED; WISSAM 
MAHMOUD FATTAL; YACQUB KHAYRE (just returned from Somalia); 
SANEY EDOW AWEYS; ABDIR AHMAN MAHMUD AHMED; AND WALID OSMAN 
MOHAMED, among whom Mr. Fattal, the Lebanese recruit to the 
movement, was already in custody on another charge and the 
last (Walid) remains in Somalia although with an 
outstanding warrant for his arrest. The other four are the 
persons of Somali descent arrested on August 4 in 
Melbourne. 
 
¶3. (S/NF) The men had been shopping in Somalia for a fatwah 
that would justify their planned terrorism in Australia 
although the imams they approached were not ready to give 
them what they wanted. Moreover, they used the outcome of 
the Benbrika case and Australia's presence in Iraq and 
Afghanistan as the justifying motives for their intended 
suicide attacks. 
 
Phone Call Ignites Arrests 
-------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) News media sources report that four men, all 
Australian citizens, were arrested this morning in a series 
of police raids on homes across Victoria. According to 
Simon Overland, chief of the Victorian Police, and 
Australian Federal Police (AFP) acting commissioner Tony 
Negus, the men will be charged with crimes in the next 24 
hours. Overland and Negus confirmed in a press conference 
that the men were planning to enter Australian military 
facilities and barracks with the intent to carry out a 
suicide mission using semi-automatic weapons. The 
Australian reports that the authorities observed the men 
carrying out surveillance on Australian Defense Force (ADF) 
bases in Victoria and Holsworthy Barracks near Sydney. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Overland stressed that the raids were a 
culmination of a long investigation and cooperative effort 
by state and federal authorities. The Age reports that more 
than 400 officers from the AFP, Victorian Police, New South 
Wales Police, New South Wales Crime Commission, and the 
Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) were 
involved in the investigation, dubbed Operation Neath. The 
Australian reports Operation Neath began after authorities 
intercepted a phone call from a Lebanese man who wished to 
go to Somalia to join Al-Shabaab, an extremist Islamic 
militant group based in Somalia with close links to Al 
Qaeda. (Comment: Al-Shabaab is not listed as a terrorist 
organization by Australia, though it is in the United 
States. End Comment.) Authorities were keeping close tabs 
on the man after he espoused extremist views in a mosque in 
the northern suburbs of Melbourne late last year. The 
Australian says that the Lebanese man, after being unable 
to gain access to Somalia, discussed with other hardliners 
carrying out attacks on Australian targets. Authorities 
decided to carry out the raids after a Somali man returned 
to Australia after training with Al-Shabaab in Somalia. 
 
 
MELBOURNE 00000090  002 OF 002 
 
 
Flap over Alleged Leak 
---------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) The Australian newspaper reports that 4 men were 
arrested from the suburbs of Carlton, Preston, Glenroy, and 
Meadow Heights, all between the ages of 22 and 26. 
Additionally, raids were carried out in the suburbs of 
Roxburgh Park, Westmeadows, Broadmeadows, Epping, and 
Colac. Simon Overland was livid and said The Australian ran 
an exclusive on Operation Neath that went public at 1:30AM 
the morning of August 4, nearly three hours before the 
raids commenced. He said the story "jeopardized the 
operation and the lives of (his) officers" and vowed to 
launch an internal investigation into the leak. The 
Australian Editor in Chief Chris Mitchell disputes that any 
edition was published before the raids. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) The recent arrests of the Somali Australians, will 
likely bring international terrorism once more to the 
forefront of the public eye.  The terror investigation is 
being called the second largest in Australian history, 
after the Benbrika terror case that ended with verdicts in 
September 2008 (reftel). It will focus on elements within 
the Somali community.  According to the 2006 census, there 
were only 4314 Somali-born persons in Australia, though 
fully 60.7 percent resided in Melbourne. Overland and Prime 
Minister Rudd have both made express statements attributing 
the investigation to a few individual extremists only, and 
not to any larger community.  ASIO's claim in its 2007-2008 
Year in Review that terrorism represented the "most 
significant threat" to Australian security could again 
surface. It is also probable that close attention will be 
paid to the Attorney General's upcoming rollout of reforms 
for Australia's national security and counterterrorism 
laws. End Comment. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Consulate Melbourne and Embassy Canberra 
coordinated on this cable. 
THURSTON