An update on this story. “Jihadist weapons stockpile in Australia,” by Larissa Cummings for the Daily Telegraph, February 16:
Guns, chemicals and ammunition hidden by a group of would-be jihadists remain unaccounted for and could still be used for a devastating terror attack in Australia.
The chilling warning was given in the Supreme Court yesterday as five men, all devout Muslims from Sydney’s southwest, were sentenced to between 23 and 28 years jail for conspiring to carry out a terrorist act.
In sentencing the men, Justice Anthony Whealy said they had shown no remorse and would wear their lengthy prison terms as a “badge of honour”.
True to the judge’s words, all five smiled broadly at each other in the dock after learning of their combined 130 years jail.
The men, who were found guilty by a jury last October after one of the longest criminal trials in NSW history, believed Islam was under attack by the US and its allies.
Each thought it was his duty to come to the defence of his religion by preparing to wage violent jihad in Australia, the court heard.
Justice Whealy said the men embraced a vengeful mindset of, “You kill us, so you will be killed. You bomb us, so you will be bombed” and prepared to build and detonate bombs and to amass firearms and ammunition to carry out their plot.
He said they intended to cause extensive damage to property and posed a serious risk to human life.
Far from being a “remote” possibility, their plan could have been carried out early in 2006 had it not been intercepted by police, he said.
He described the pact as “deliberate, defiant and brazen” and said the men urgently tried to conceal their stockpile ahead of their arrest to “preserve the fruits of the criminal enterprise for later use when the heat died down”….