A British teenager and an Australian terror suspect discussed packing a kangaroo with explosives, painting it with an Isis flag and setting it loose on police officers, court documents allege.
The 15-year-old boy from Blackburn and 19-year-old Sevdet Besim are alleged to have discussed the plot online as part of plans to carry out a terror attack in Melbourne during an Anzac Day parade. The celebrations are held every year on April 25 to mark the 1915 Gallipoli landings in Turkey.
Besim is now standing trial in the Victoria state supreme court for his alleged involvement in the plot. Besim, who faces a potential life sentence if convicted, and four alleged conspirators were arrested in Melbourne a week before Anzac Day. Besim has pleaded not guilty to four charges relating to a plot.
In court documents presented today, prosecutors said Besim and the British youth discussed that a kangaroo could be packed with explosives, painted with “the IS symbol” and set loose on police while chatting on the Telegram messenger service.
Prosecutors said that “communications resume in the early hours of Thursday 20 March 2015 with an image being sent by Besim with a comment of ‘look what I got ahaha’. The conversation continues with Besim detailing what he did that day and they have a general discussion around animals and wildlife in Australia including a suggestion that a kangaroo could be packed with C4 explosive, painted with the Isis symbol and set loose on police officers.”
He is also alleged to have said he was “ready to fight these dogs on there (sic) doorstep”.
“I’d love to take out some cops,” Besim is said to have written. “I was gonna meet with them then take some heads.”
Police allege Besim was motivated by an extremist ideology and had expressed support for terrorist organisations, particularly the IS movement.
The 15-year-old became Britain’s youngest convicted terrorist after admitting his part in the Anzac Day plot in October last year.
Manchester Crown Court heard he sent thousands of online messages to the other alleged Australian jihadists and was planning “a massacre.”
Police said the plan hatched by the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was “shocking in its brutality and scope”.
Handing the boy a life sentence at Manchester Crown Court, Judge John Saunders said he remained a “significant risk.” He ruled the Briton could not get parole for five years, adding the teenager would be released only when he was no longer a danger to the public.
Read More
The Gallipoli campaign was the first major military action fought by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during the First World War and hundreds of thousands attend commemoration services around Australia.
