230 suspected jihadis stopped at Australian airports
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 26 March, 2015, 3:19am
UPDATED : Thursday, 26 March, 2015, 3:19am
Associated Press in Canberra
Surveillance video of two teenage brothers suspected of trying to fly to the Middle East to fight, at Sydney Airport on March 6. Photo: EPA
Counterterrorism squads have prevented 230 suspected jihadis from departing Australian airports for the Middle East this month, including at least three teenage boys.
Officials had previously announced that two Sydney-born brothers, aged 16 and 17, were intercepted at Sydney International Airport on March 8 attempting to board a flight for Turkey without their parents' knowledge. The siblings were returned to their families and were to be charged.
Within a week, a 17-year-old boy was intercepted at the same airport on suspicion that he was headed for a Middle Eastern battle, Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton said yesterday.
The boy was also returned to his family, but remained under investigation, Dutton said.
Since counterterrorism units were attached to eight Australian airports in August, 86,000 travellers have been questioned and 230 people prevented from flying on suspicion that they were headed for the battlefields of Iraq and Syria, Prime Minister Tony Abbott told parliament.
Experts disagree about why Islamic State had been so effective recruiting in Australia, which is widely regarded as a multicultural success story, with an economy in an enviable 24th straight year of continuous growth.
The London-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence reports that between 100 and 250 Australians had joined Sunni militants in Iraq and Syria.
Abbott said his government was investing more on border security and on countering extremism movements.
"It is absolutely critical that the people of Australia appreciate that the death cult is reaching out to vulnerable and impressionable young people," he said, referring to Islamic State. "The death cult is reaching out, seeking effectively to brainwash people online."
Sydney's The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported this week that Islamic State posted on a social media website on March 14 - two days after the latest 17-year-old was intercepted - a step-by-step guide to help would-be jihadis leave Australia and fight with the terror group.
The guide included advice on how to use an Islamic State support network and slip through security cracks.
