Terrorism
Police in Australia have arrested five men suspected of trying to sail a small boat from North Queensland in a bid to eventually joining ISIS in Syria.
They were detained in Cairns on Tuesday after allegedly towing the boat nearly 3000 kilometres from Melbourne.
Police say they planned to travel to Indonesia and the Philippines, then on to Syria.
“I want it to be perfectly clear, this is a serious attempt by five men, who are of security interest to us, who have had their passports cancelled in attempting to exit Australia so that they can make their way through boat, and then ultimately we’re investigating the intention to possibly end up in Syria to fight,” Victoria State Police Deputy Commissioner said.
Australia gets serious about Jihadist terrorism: ISIS members can now be stripped of Australian citizenship https://t.co/Uje5HvpeTw
— F. Jeffery (F.J.) (@MrPolyatheist) May 5, 2016
Aged between 21 and 33, it’s believed the five men have not yet been charged but under tough new security powers passed in 2014, could face up to a decade in prison for trying to travel to areas declared off limits.
Reuters
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