Seven young suspected militants have been stopped from leaving Australia amid fears they planned to fight for terrorist groups in the Middle East, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said yesterday.
The Australian government has been increasingly concerned about the flow of fighters to Iraq and Syria to join extremist organizations.
Abbott said the allure of the Islamic State — formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant — and other similar groups remained strong.
“We have stopped at the airport seven young Australians who were planning to travel to the Middle East, it seems, to join terrorist groups over there,” he said, adding that the incident “indicates the continuing allure of this death cult.”
Sydney’s Daily Telegraph said five of the men all tried to leave through Sydney airport together, on a flight initially to Malaysia, on Wednesday last week, triggering an alert due to the sums of money they were carrying.
Citing an intelligence source, the report said some of the suspects were known to authorities and their passports were immediately suspended under new laws that came into effect this year.
Abbott would not confirm the details, calling it an “operational matter.”
He praised the border force and counter-terrorism units at airports for doing their jobs in this “particularly important and significant way.”
Canberra estimates there are about 120 Australians still fighting in Iraq and Syria, while at least 30 have been killed.
There are also believed to be about 160 sympathizers in Australia who send money to those fighting overseas and help drum up moral support.
Australia raised the country’s terror threat level to high almost a year ago, and has conducted several counter-terrorism raids in various cities since then.
The government has also passed a number of national security laws and in June introduced legislation to strip dual nationals of their Australian citizenship for terrorism links.
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