230 Suspected Extremists Prevented from Leaving Australia
Local Editor
Counterterrorism squads have prevented 230 suspected extremists from departing Australian airports for the Middle East this month, including at least three teenage boys, officials said Wednesday.
Within a week, a 17-year-old boy was intercepted at the same airport on suspicion that he was headed for a Middle Eastern battle, Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton said Wednesday.
The boy was also returned to his family, but remains under investigation, Dutton said.
Since counterterrorism units were attached to eight Australian airports in August, 86,000 travelers have been questioned and 230 people prevented from flying on suspicion that they were headed for the battlefields of Iraq and Syria to fight with groups including "ISIL", Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Parliament.
The London-based International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence reports that between 100 and 250 Australians have joined the terrorist militants in Iraq and Syria. The center estimates that about 100 fighters came from the United States, which has more than 13 times as many people as Australia.
Abbott said his government was investing more on border security and on countering extremism.
"It is absolutely critical that the people of Australia appreciate that the death cult is reaching out to vulnerable and impressionable young people," he said, referring to "ISIL". "The death cult is reaching out, seeking effectively to brainwash people online."
Sydney's The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported this week that "ISIL" posted on a social media website on March 14 - two days after the latest 17-year-old was intercepted - a step-by-step guide to help would-be terrorists leave Australia and fight with the terror group.
The guide included advice on how to use an "ISIL" support network and slip through security cracks, the newspaper said.
The same support network was used by Australian Jake Bilardi, 18, who flew from his hometown of Melbourne in August last year to join "ISIL" fighters without alerting security agencies.
Bilardi was reportedly killed in a suicide bomb blast in Iraq this month.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
