VZCZCXRO1084
RR RUEHPT
DE RUEHBN #0096/01 2260154
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
R 140154Z AUG 09
FM AMCONSUL MELBOURNE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4991
INFO RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 0002
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 3634
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 0008
RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH 1607
RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY 2126
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 MELBOURNE 000096 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PLEASE PASS TO HOMELAND SECURITY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/13/2019 
TAGS: PTER PINR PREL KVPR AS
SUBJECT: OPERATION NEATH CONTINUES 
 
REF: A. MELBOURNE 94 
     ¶B. MELBOURNE 93 
     ¶C. MELBOURNE 92 
     ¶D. MELBOURNE 18 
     ¶E. 08 MELBOURNE 117 
     ¶F. 08 MELBOURNE 66 
     ¶G. 08 CANBERRA 909 
 
Classified By: Justin Kolbeck, Pol/Econ Officer for reasons 1.4(b),(d) 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (S) Australian authorities continue to investigate 
additional suspects in Operation "Neath" which led to the 
arrest and subsequent charging of five Melbourne-based men on 
terror charges (refs. A-C).  At least one more arrest will be 
forthcoming as law enforcement agencies close the net on 
Australia's second homegrown terror network.  End summary. 
 
Operation Continues 
------------------- 
 
¶2. (S) During an August 11 briefing, Australian Federal 
Police (AFP) Counter Terrorism Coordinator Damien Appleby and 
Victoria Police Detective Inspector Andrew Gustke informed 
Consul General that at least one more arrest in Operation 
Neath is likely in the very near future.  Appleby and Gustke 
estimate that the August 4 arrests "cut the head off the 
snake," but they remain concerned about other potential 
"shooters" who are implicated in plans to attack an 
Australian defense installation.  The AFP is closely watching 
a sixth Australian citizen who is known to be fighting in 
Somalia, but they expect that the man may be killed before 
they are able to exercise a warrant on his return to 
Australia.  (Note: The man is a front-line machine gun 
operator and often talks of being killed in the Somali 
conflict.  End note.) 
 
¶3. (S) Appleby and Gustke believe that the five men arrested 
and charged in Operation Neath came closer to actually 
carrying out an attack than Abdul Nacer Benbrika and his 
accomplices (refs. D-G) did in 2007-2008.  While the five men 
did not have the capacity to carry out the attack at the time 
they were arrested, the AFP and Victoria Police believed that 
the suspects, particularly Lebanese citizen Wissam Mahmoud 
Fattal (DOB: 06/15/1976), were mentally committed to 
achieving martyrdom through an attack with or without a 
fatwah. 
 
¶4. (S) A second man, Saney Edow Aweys (Somali born, 
Australian citizen, DOB: 5/1/1983) is believed to have been 
the ringleader with direct access to al Qa'ida East Africa. 
Yacqub Khayre (Somali born, Australian citizen, DOB: 
1/1/1987) has traveled to Somalia and served as the group's 
liaison with al-Shabaab there.  Appleby and Gustke 
characterized Khayre as a "weakling" who struggled with the 
harsh day to day life in Somalia and was not fully trusted by 
the other four men.  The AFP believes that Khayre may be 
turned while in prison to serve as an informant in related 
cases.  The two other men are Nayef El Sayed, Australian 
citizen born in Australia, (DOB: 2/2/1984) and Somali born, 
Australian citizen Abdirahman Mohammad Ahmed (citizen, DOB: 
7/27/1984). 
 
Background from AFP/VicPol 
-------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Operation Neath is a multi-agency investigation into 
the activities of a Melbourne-based group of extremists, 
numbering 23 persons of interest.  The group is suspected of 
planning a domestic terrorist attack in Australia; supporting 
the Islamic insurgency in Somalia (al-Shabaab) through 
fundraising and other activities; and traveling to Somalia to 
fight for the Islamic insurgency.  The plan involved four to 
six group members obtaining firearms, entering a military 
barracks and shooting as many personnel as possible before 
being shot dead and achieving martyrdom.  Not all group 
members agreed with the plan because of the negative 
repercussions on Muslim communities in Australia. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The group actively sought a fatwa from a Sheikh in 
 
MELBOURNE 00000096  002 OF 002 
 
 
Somalia on the permissibility of carrying out a terrorist act 
on a military barracks in Australia.  Failing to convince the 
first Sheikh, a second Sheikh eventually rejected the fatwa 
on the grounds that such an operation was not permissible 
because the benefits would be far outweighed by the problems 
it would create for Australian Muslims.  The Sheikh further 
alluded to the negative impact it would have on the financial 
support flowing from Australia (total remittances from 
Australia to Somalia are estimated to be less than US$830,000 
per month) to Somalia in support of al-Shabaab. 
 
Preston Mosque 
-------------- 
 
¶7. (S) Appleby and Gustke confirmed that Operation Neath 
centered on the Preston mosque (Ref. A) where several 
worshipers were observed stating that they intended to go to 
Iraq, Afghanistan or East Africa for the "real jihad."  The 
five men met, exercised and watched terror-related videos in 
the back room of the Preston mosque.  Extremists from 
Lebanese and other middle-eastern extraction were told that 
they would stand out as "foreign fighters" and were 
eventually prevented from traveling abroad.  Because the 
Preston mosque is home to both Australia's Mufti, Sheikh 
Fehmi Naji El Imam as well as the Islamic Society of 
Victoria, Appleby and Gustke acknowledged that political 
sensitivities have forced them to keep a close hold on the 
Preston mosque connection. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8. (S) Our contacts within the AFP and the Victoria Police 
praise intelligence collaboration between Australia and the 
United States, but request that more cooperation be carried 
out between countries with large Somali populations such as 
Sweden, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. 
Specifically, these contacts appreciate roving witness 
programs with the FBI and would like to see their application 
expanded.  Positive public relations could be an added 
benefit of this increased collaboration. 
 
THURSTON