A short history of a clear and imminent danger

Nov 3, 2005
"Security agencies are poised to swoop on alleged terrorist cells throughout the country once Parliament passes an amendment to the anti-terrorism laws today. The Prime Minister, John Howard, said yesterday he had received new, "specific" intelligence this week from spies and police indicating a "potential terrorist threat".

"The immediate passage of this amendment would strengthen the capacity of the law enforcement agencies to effectively respond to this threat," he said. Despite the fresh intelligence, the overall terrorist threat level remains at medium. The amendment to the anti-terrorism laws seems minor, but it has significant implications. Rather than having to prove that a suspect intends to undertake "the" terrorist act, the wording will be changed to "a" terrorist act.

"This, the Government believes, means it does not need specific evidence about the timing and location of the planned attack to secure a successful prosecution, just that an attack was planned. The change will also significantly limit the ability of defence lawyers to defend terrorist suspects.

"ASIO and police will be able to make arrests almost immediately. A senior security source said the legal issues solved by the amendment had been the main barrier to the raids."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/police-on-standby-for-terror-cell-raids/2005/11/02/1130823281888.html

Nov 4, 2005
"Details surrounding the potential terrorist threat outlined by Prime Minister John Howard this week are emerging in the media, with Sydney and Melbourne named as targets. The Daily Telegraph says the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Kurnell oil refinery are the top targets of a suspected terror group being tracked by spy agencies and the police.

"The Islamist group has been under watch by ASIO and state and federal police for more than a year and is part of a Sydney-Melbourne alliance, the Telegraph said.

"Security agencies believed the home-grown terror cells had been stockpiling explosives and other materials and realised last weekend that the operation was well advanced. Members of the groups were arrested in the June raids over a suspected plot to attack prominent Melbourne landmarks, including a railway station and the Australian Stock Exchange. At the time there was not enough evidence to arrest or charge them.

"The group includes two men in Sydney, one of whom was allegedly identified by a US informant who said they met at a training camp run by the outlawed Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) militant group, The Australian said. The second man had connections to a rural NSW property watched by authorities before the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Investigative journalist Sally Neighbour, writing in The Australian, says police and spy agencies honed in on the group after a passerby noticed a man filming the stock exchange building in Melbourne with a small home video camera, the report said. A short time later, police received another report that a man was filming a Melbourne train station. The same car had been used on both occasions. When police traced the owner, they found the vehicle belonged to the father-in-law of a suspect high on the "watchlist" and already under surveillance.

Authorities were monitoring the group under Operation Pandanus after a tip-off from an insider connected to Melbourne's most radical Islamist prayer room, Brunswick's Michael Street mosque. The group was heard discussing terrorist attacks overseas, and investigators became convinced its members were planning an attack in Australia. As ASIO and police continued to monitor the group, one of its members was intercepted at an Australian airport bound for Lebanon, carrying the video footage of the stock exchange and the train station, The Australian said. The men under surveillance were followers of Melbourne-based cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika, who became a follower of the radical Melbourne-based Sheik Mohammed Omran.

"The Sydney Morning Herald said that senior police were unhappy with Mr Howard's public disclosure of the potential threat, saying it had jeopardised their year-long investigation and may have alerted suspects."
http://smh.com.au/news/NATIONAL/Australian-terror-threat-details-emerge/2005/11/04/1130823364992.html

Nov 7, 2005
"Extra counter-terrorism police have reportedly been rushed to Sydney to monitor two terror suspects. The two men were believed to be planning an attack on Australian soil, The Australian newspaper reports. One of the pair has been linked to banned terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET). The newspaper also reported an operation was taking place in Melbourne, which could involve raids on properties of six suspects who have been under surveillance for the past year. Police would not comment on either case." http://smh.com.au/news/NATIONAL/Terror-suspects-under-surveillance/2005/11/07/1131211969828.html

Nov 8, 2005
"Victoria's Police Commissioner, Christine Nixon, agrees that police have prevented a major terrorist attack from occurring. "We weren't exactly sure when nor, more importantly, what they planned to damage or do harm to. "[But] it was a point where, when we had sufficient evidence, we were able then to move."

"Commissioner Nixon says some of the charges laid against those arrested in the raids have been made possible by a change to existing anti-terrorism laws that was rushed through federal Parliament last week. "Some of that is related to that amendment that occurred," she said. "But this is a long-term operation. It isn't just something that happened last week. "We believe that we were moving to a point where we had sufficient evidence to charge these people with a range of offences."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1499988.htm

Further on Nov 8, 2005
"Last week, Parliament passed the amendments to the existing anti-terrorism laws after Prime Minister John Howard revealed "specific intelligence" about a potential attack. The change makes it easier to prosecute people thought to be planning terrorist strikes. Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock insists last week's urgent legislation was justified, saying the new laws made the arrests possible. "There are potentially a range of charges, some of which may be dependent on the amendments we passed last week," Mr Ruddock said."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1500149.htm