Australia charges five men over plot to sail to join Islamic State
Bizarre plan allegedly involved sailing a motor boat from Queensland to
Indonesia and Philippines and then on to Syria.
Australian police have charged five men suspected of planning to travel to Syria to join Islamic State via a journey that would start in a small motor boat taking them to Indonesia and the Philippines.
The men, aged between 21 and 31, were charged on Saturday with preparing to enter a foreign country “for the purpose of engaging in hostile activities,” an offence that carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
[There is] an unusual character to the plot, I know it has been ridiculed, but these are serious crimes
Australian Attorney General George Brandis told reporters on Sunday “their intentions to travel to the Middle East to engage in terrorist war fighting were known to the authorities,” and that their passports had earlier been cancelled.
The five, who were not named, were arrested on Tuesday after towing the seven-metre motor boat almost 3,000 km from Melbourne to Cairns in northern Queensland state, police said.
The men, in custody since Tuesday, will appear in court on Monday.
Brandis said that when it became clear to the men they could not leave “in an orthodox way, they remained under surveillance so that if they attempted to leave the country in this very unusual way they would be able to be stopped and they were.”