SYDNEY — Two men were arrested as part of an ongoing counterterrorism investigation into a group that officials have accused of plotting to kill a random member of the public in Sydney.
Police said Wednesday the arrests come a day after the nation’s prime minister warned of heightened terrorist chatter in the aftermath of a deadly siege in Sydney.
Sulayman Khalid, 20, was charged Tuesday with possession of documents designed to facilitate a terrorist attack, while a 21-year-old was charged with breaching a control order, police said.
Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan said there was no specific terrorist threat and the arrests were related to an ongoing counterterrorism operation that led to a series of raids in Sydney in September. One man was charged at that time with conspiring with an Islamic State leader in Syria to behead a random person in Sydney.
Tuesday’s arrests bring to 11 the number of people charged in connection with that operation.
A day before, Prime Minister Tony Abbott warned there had been a “heightened level of terror chatter” in the week since a gunman took 18 hostages in a Sydney cafe. The standoff ended 16 hours later when police stormed the cafe in a barrage of gunfire to free the captives. Two hostages were killed, along with the gunman, an Iranian-born, self-styled cleric.
