An Australian terror suspect known as "Jihad Jack" told police Osama bin Laden wanted him to carry out operations in his home country, prosecutors said yesterday.
They made the charge at the opening of the trial of former taxi driver Joseph Terrence Thomas, a 32-year-old Muslim convert who changed his name by deed poll to Jihad (Holy War).
He stands accused of receiving financial support from al-Qaeda in 2002 and 2003, of providing it with resources or support to help them carry out a terrorist attack, and of having a false passport.
Thomas has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Thomas allegedly trained at al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan before the Sept.11, 2001 attacks on the US.
Prosecutor Nicholas Robinson told the Victorian Supreme Court that Thomas had told police he had seen bin Laden at "close quarters" on several occasions.
Thomas returned to Pakistan by July 2002 and stayed in safe houses frequented by al-Qaeda operatives, Robinson said.
There, Thomas overheard a plot to bring down a jet carrying Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf with a rocket launcher and met an al-Qaeda member called Khaled bin Attash, the court was told.
Bin Attash told Thomas of the possibility of an attack in Australia which would "bring down the Australian government" and asked him to carry out surveillance on Australian military installations, Robinson said.
"Osama bin Laden wanted an Australian to work for him and to carry out operations in Australia," Thomas told police, according to Robinson.
He returned to Australia in June 2004 after being released without charge from custody in Pakistan, where he had been held for six months on suspicion of having terrorist connections.
Bin Attash personally handed Thomas money and organized a Qantas ticket from Pakistan back to Australia, the court heard.
Thomas, was arrested in a raid on his home in November 2004.
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