“Five people have been arrested in relation to the fatal shooting of Curtis Cheng outside police headquarters at Parramatta on Friday October 2”, police said in a statement after the early morning raids.
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The head of the state’s counter-terrorism command, NSW Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn, said inquiries confirmed a number of men arrested in sweeping anti-terrorism raids across Sydney yesterday had attended the mosque on the day of the fatal shooting.
The male suspects, who ranged in age from 16 to 24, were taken into custody at four locations in 6 a.m. raids that involved more than 200 officers, police said.
Australian police stated that five young boys have been arrested recently after they proved to be in connection with the teenager who shoot a police finance worker last week.
Police believe the killing was politically motivated and therefore linked to terrorism, though they say Jabar’s specific motivations remain unclear and he has not been linked to any terror group.
All were taken to various police stations to be interviewed about the shooting murder of Mr Cheng by 15-year-old Farhad Khalil Mohammad Jabar outside the Parramatta police headquarters on Friday.
The basis for the latest police raids was laid by yesterday’s banner headline in Murdoch’s tabloid Daily Telegraph, “Police believe gunman was no lone wolf but part of extremist pack”.
‘We have been saying since September previous year that a terrorist attack is likely and this is why our threat level was raised to high, ‘ Ms Burn said.
Police said the older brother was not detained as part of this operation but for an outstanding warrant for identify fraud and other fraud matters.
The operation follows the arrest of a 17-year-old teen and a raid on Tuesday night at his home, after authorities alleged he used a series of Facebook updates to threaten police.
Investigators have yet to establish why Cheng, a police accountant, was targeted, although Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said the attack “appears to have been an act of terrorism”. The killer was shot dead by police.
“We definitely have our suspicion he [Jabar] did not act alone”, Ms Burns said.
The 16-year-old, who can not be named, was charged previous year for driving past a Christian school in Harris Park, yelling death threats and waving an Islamic State flag. Among the ramblings, described by one source as mostly “jibberish”, the note said: “blood will run into the streets” and “know your security means nothing to us”.
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Police were continuing to search the premises on Wednesday.
