A police source has confirmed Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop were among a list of potential targets allegedly documented in the notebook of a Sri Lankan man charged with a terrorism-related offence, Australian media reported today.
The Sri Lankan man on a student visa believed to be affiliated with Islamic State has been accused of planning a terrorist attack in Sydney after his employer handed over to police a notebook listing “symbolic” targets.
The notebook contained graphic assassination threats to former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, according to the Seven Network.
Seven News revealed that Mr Turnbull was one of several members of Parliament, alongside Julie Bishop and former MP Bronwyn Bishop, allegedly targeted in a diary kept by the 25-year-old Sri Lankan national.
The University of New South Wales contractor appeared in Waverley Local Court where he was refused bail, with the matter adjourned to October 24.
A police source confirmed to the ABC on Friday night that the former prime minister and former foreign affairs minister were allegedly targets for the man.
Mohammad Kamer Nilar Nizamdeen, 25, who works as a contracted business analyst at the University of NSW, was charged with one count of knowingly making a document connected to the preparation of a terrorist act. The notebook allegedly singles out specific individuals and landmarks in Sydney to be targeted.
“They are symbolic locations within Sydney,” Australian Federal Police Detective Superintendent Michael McTiernan said yesterday.
Police seized from a Zetland unit “documentary evidence” including electronic items early yesterday that they say is affiliated with IS, although Mr Nizamdeen has not been charged with being a member of a terrorist organisation. “Some material has been seized which will be used in evidence, I must say that it is documentary evidence; there is no suggestion of any capability possessed by this individual,” Acting Superintendent Mike Sheehey said.
While police said there was no immediate threat to the community, they stressed the severity of the charge. “The charges laid against this person are serious and significant, and should not be underestimated,” Superintendent McTiernan said.
Investigators and psychologists are examining the notebook to assess how serious a threat is posed by Mr Nizamdeen, who was not known to police and has no criminal record in Australia.
Mr Nizamdeen, whose student visa is due to expire next month, goes by the name Kamer.
He began working for UNSW after he completed a bachelor of commerce, information systems and international business degree.
Mr Nizamdeen took part in a program run by UNSW and NSW police to improve international student safety in 2016.
He, along with his team, presented a business proposal at NSW Parliament House organised by then trade, tourism and major events minister Stuart Ayres. Photos from the event show him standing alongside police officers.
Mr Nizamdeen also helped develop an app called A.L.I.C.E. which replicates a 1980s arcade game to educate students on how they can protect themselves online. He was part of UNSW’s HERO program in 2015 and appears in several promotional videos for the university.
Mr Nizamdeen was referred to the police by UNSW and the university is assisting police with their investigations. Officers searched his office yesterday at the Kensington campus.
His arrest was the result of an investigation conducted by the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team, which includes officers from the AFP, NSW Police Force, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the NSW Crime Commission.
Police allege Mr Nizamdeen was acting on his own, and despite telling a media conference he appeared to be an Islamic State affiliate, they have not charged him with being a member of a terrorist organisation.
He appeared at Waverley Local Court in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, did not apply for bail and it was formally refused.
Several of Mr Nizamdeen’s supporters attended but refused to speak to media. The case returns on October 24.
-Agencies
