A teen’s alleged terror plot was detailed in court on Friday 4 October after the arrest of the 19-year-old man in Melbourne.
The arrest was made following a tip-off Australian police received from the FBI.
It’s alleged the young man planned a variety of attacks, including a school shooting and a bomb attack on a university. Other allegations involved the derailment of a train and poisoning Melbourne’s water supply.
Counter-terrorism police raided the man’s home in Melbourne’s south-east and allegedly found handwritten notes with details of the terror plot.
Police allegedly found weapons stockpiled inside the home, including metal parts to manufacture a gun, homemade guns, a taser, 522 ammunition rounds, chemistry glassware and explosive chemicals.
Explosives plans, a flick knife, a bayonet, a slingshot, shock collars, a military tactical vest, walkie-talkies, a gas mask and a firearm shoulder holster were also allegedly found by police.
“This seems to fit with a classic school shooting, American-style,” says Deakin University terrorism expert Greg Barton.
“The range of things he was looking at and the range of materials found allegedly, it looks like there’s a fair chance there would have been violence had not the police moved in, so that’s quite chilling.”
Threatening notes allegedly found
Notes allegedly written by the man also outlined plans to carry out a shooting at a bus stop, shoot police officers and poison members of the public.
One note read: “If you expel me and put a restraining order on me, I’ll show up anyway, kill a random student before I kill myself.”
The 19-year-old, who left school in year 11, cannot be named for legal reasons. It is understood that he has been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and lives with his family. He did hold a firearms licence, which has been suspended since his arrest.
After previously being arrested and charged with improperly storing ammunition, possessing housebreaking implements and possessing explosive substances in April this year, the man was released on bail.
At the teen’s bail hearing in the Moorabbin Magistrates Court on Friday, police opposed bail by arguing that, if released, he is capable of causing mass violence. The man’s family wants to monitor him at home instead.
The hearing will resume on Monday 7 October.
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