“New South Wales state police said the mosque in the western Sydney suburb of Parramatta – close to the scene of the double shooting on Friday afternoon – was raided with the consent of religious leaders.” Do police obtain the consent of drug kingpins before raiding drug dens? And what if the religious leaders had declined to give consent to the raiding of the mosque? Would police have left the mosque alone?
“Sydney mosque raided after Australia ‘terrorism-linked’ shooting by 15-year-old,” Agence France-Presse, October 4, 2015 (thanks to Kenneth):
An Australian mosque reportedly visited by a 15-year-old boy before he shot dead a civilian police employee in an “act of terrorism” has been raided, police said on Sunday.
New South Wales state police said the mosque in the western Sydney suburb of Parramatta – close to the scene of the double shooting on Friday afternoon – was raided with the consent of religious leaders.
“NSW Police yesterday executed a warrant at a mosque in Parramatta,” police said in a statement Sunday.
“The warrant was undertaken by arrangement with leadership at the mosque who provided full assistance to police at all times.”
The 15-year-old gunman, who killed finance worker Curtis Cheng at close range outside the police force’s headquarters before he was shot dead by officers, visited the mosque before the shooting, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
Investigators have yet to establish why the teenager — who has no criminal history — targeted 58-year-old Cheng, although Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Saturday the attack “appears to have been an act of terrorism”.
Police did not provide further details about the mosque raid. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that investigators were searching for the boy’s belongings but had left empty-handed….