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Man arrested in Australian counter-terror raids

The Joint Counter-Terrorism Team comprises officers from the Australian Federal Police and Victoria Police.

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A Facebook picutre of Phillip Galea, who is believed to have been arrested in Braybrook.

Phillip Galea, 31, was arrested at his home in Braybrook, in Melbourne’s west, as police launched a series of raids across Victoria, The Herald Sun reported.

The man was arrested about 1pm on Saturday on Ballarat Road in Braybrook.

Counter Terrorism Command Assistant Commissioner Ross Guenther said there were growing concerns actions were escalating.

“I think we’ve interrupted what could have been something that’s quite serious in terms of harm to our community”, he said.

Commissioner Guenther said the arrest was part of an ongoing investigation that is of no immediate threat to the public.

“I’m satisfied that the threat more broadly would be in Victoria”, he said.

“The threat was specific enough to cause alarm in terms of the risk it would cause the community”, he said on Saturday.

Warrants were also carried out in the town of Bacchus Marsh, northwest of Melbourne, and in the town of Tatura in the state’s centre.

A worker in the Braybrook area, who wished to remain anonymous, said a large police truck had just arrived and there were officers covered head-to-toe in combat gear.

But he told a press conference that the individual had a “number of affiliations to different organisations”.

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Forensic investigators continued collecting evidence at the Braybrook address in Melbourne’s west where the 31-year-old was arrested.

A man who allegedly belongs to a far-right group has been charged after counter-terror raids across Victoria