Two NSW teenagers charged over violent extremist material allegedly linked to terror | New South Wales

Two New South Wales teenagers have been charged with allegedly possessing violent extremist material after police searched one of their homes and found a ballistic-style vest and several notebooks and literature they claimed contained extremist references.

Australian federal police and NSW police issued a statement on Friday morning confirming that the boys, aged 15 and 16, both from Moree in northern NSW, had been charged with possession of alleged extremist material following a joint counter-terrorism investigation.

The investigation began in December when New England police received information about a teenager allegedly accessing extremist material online.

On March 27, investigators searched a home and seized a cell phone, a ballistic-style vest and several notebooks. The boy, who was 15 at the time, was charged.

After forensic examination of the items, federal and state investigators raided two homes in Moree on Thursday, where handwritten notes and pieces of literature allegedly containing extremist references were seized.

The 15-year-old was later arrested and charged with knowingly collecting and forging terrorism-related documents and using a transportation service to transmit violent extremist material.

Another 16-year-old boy was also arrested and charged with using a transport service to possess violent extremist material.

They were both refused bail and will appear in Parramatta children’s court on Friday.