Two NSW teens charged over extremist material allegedly linked to terror

Two NSW teenagers have been charged with allegedly possessing violent extremist material after police discovered a ballistic-style vest, several notebooks and alarming literature allegedly connected with terrorism at one of the boy’s homes.

The boys aged 15 and 16, both from Moree in northern NSW, were arrested by counterterror police following a forensic examination of items seized in a search warrant.

Federal and state investigators swooped on two Moree homes on Thursday, where handwritten notes and pieces of literature allegedly containing extremist references were seized. It followed an initial search executed last Friday, where local officers seized the ballistic-style vest, notebooks and a mobile phone.

A 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged on Thursday morning with knowingly collecting and making documents connected with terrorism, and using a carriage service to transmit violent extremist material. The charges were added to those from the first search warrant last week.

Another boy, 16, was charged with using a carriage service to possess violent extremist material after he was arrested at 11.30am on Thursday.

Both appeared before Parramatta children’s court on Friday, where the 16-year-old applied for and was granted bail. His co-accused did not apply for bail.

The teens will front Moree Local Court on April 24.

It comes one week after a children’s court heard an “isolated” 16-year-old from Sydney’s inner west allegedly downloaded extremist manuals providing instructions on committing a mass casualty event, and had started plotting a terror attack.

The court heard he downloaded a terror guide and a kill guide from an extremist group known to radicalise young people, which this masthead has chosen not to name, and began planning a violent attack. The nihilistic organisation has been linked to various school shooting plots overseas.

The prosecutor for the Commonwealth said the documents allegedly held by the boy provided instruction on how to commit mass casualty events, including through the use of knives.

The NSW joint counterterrorism team comprises members from NSW Police, Australian Federal Police, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and NSW Crime Commission.

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