Results for: Joint Counter Terrorism Team

Five teenagers have been charged with terrorism-related offenses following the stabbing of a bishop in a Sydney church. The arrests were part of a major operation by the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team, which included federal and state police, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, and the New South Wales Crime Commission. The teens, aged 14 to 17, are accused of conspiring to engage in or plan a terrorist act, possessing or controlling violent extremist material, and carrying a knife in public. Police allege the network included the 16-year-old boy accused of stabbing the bishop on April 15 during an online church service. Authorities believe the group adhered to a ‘religiously motivated, violent extremist ideology.’ Two clerics survived the attack, which was the second high-profile recent stabbing in Sydney.

Over a week after a bishop was stabbed during a live-streamed church sermon, counter-terrorism police have conducted raids on multiple Sydney properties. The Joint Counter Terrorism Team is leading the ongoing investigation, with no current threat to public safety or connection to Anzac Day commemorations. More details on the raids will be released later today. The counter-terrorism squad comprises state and federal police, as well as ASIO and NSW Crime Commission officials. The raids follow the arrest of a 16-year-old on terrorism charges in connection with the attack at Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley on April 15th. The stabbing, believed to be religiously motivated, injured Assyrian bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and priest Isaac Royel before the attacker was apprehended. Arrests have also been made in connection with riots that erupted outside the church following the incident.