Melbourne men charged with sharing Islamic State-inspired footage
Federal police charged four people following an 18-month investigation into sharing propaganda spread by the terrorist group Islamic State.
Following a series of raids on Thursday, three of the men were expected to appear in court on Friday and the other in July.
Australian Federal Police counter-terrorism commander Paula Hudson said the men were allegedly sharing and receiving images and videos of previous terrorist attacks and other ISIS propaganda.
Hudson said they intervened “to keep our community safe.”
“We know that intervening early helps ensure individuals are disrupted before they reach the most serious levels of offending and prevents the potential for violence to escalate,” he said in a statement.
“This outage sends a clear message: the AFP is monitoring alongside our government, Commonwealth and international law enforcement partners and we will not tolerate any form of hate in our society.”
Federal police said they were first alerted to the men’s alleged activity in November 2024, when a teenager from Roxburgh Park returned to Melbourne from Türkiye and his luggage was searched during a routine inspection by the Australian Border Force at Melbourne Airport.
An AFP spokesman said this investigation revealed “suspicious content” on the teenager’s phone.
They said the same thing happened when another young man from Roxburgh Park returned from Türkiye on June 1 last year.
Phones owned by both men were seized for further examination and the investigation into the footage resulted in AFP officers executing four search warrants in the Melbourne suburbs of Roxburgh Park, Clyde South and Meadow Heights on Thursday.
As a result of these raids, in which the AFP gun was inadvertently discharged, the same two Roxburgh Park men (now in their 20s) who were stopped at the airport were arrested, as were two Clyde North men, aged 19 and 29. No one was injured when the gun went off.
All four face up to five years in prison if convicted of possessing violent extremist material. The four appeared in court briefly on Thursday. Three people returned to court on Friday and one person was released on bail to return to court on July 30.
A fifth man arrested in Meadow Heights has been released pending further investigation.
The AFP said in a statement that limiting access to violent extremist material and training professionals and parents so they can assist with early intervention are among the organisation’s priorities.
“If you suspect someone has been radicalized online or in person, call the National Security Hotline on 1800 123 400,” an AFP spokesman said.
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