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Australia, UK to work together on terror: PM

AAP

AAP

The two Melbourne men charged over an alleged Anzac Day terror plot were in contact with a boy arrested in the UK following a joint operation between Australian and British authorities, a court has heard.

British police, who arrested the 14-year-old boy in Lancashire, passed information about the alleged plot to their Australian counterparts.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Australian and British authorities were working with the “closest possible” co-operation to stem potential terror recruiting.

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Melbourne 18-year-olds Harun Causevic and Sevdet Ramdan Besim have been charged over the alleged Islamic State-inspired plot targeting Anzac Day events in Melbourne, while the English teen was arrested on Saturday.

Causevic, of Hampton Park, and Besim, from Hallam, were also arrested on Saturday with three other young men in Melbourne and have since been charged with conspiring to commit a terrorist act.

Tony Abbott said Australian and British authorities were working together.

Tony Abbott said Australian and British authorities were working together. Photo: AAP

Another 18-year-old was charged by summons with weapons offences and the other two, aged 18 and 19, were released pending further investigation.

Causevic was held on an interim preventative detention order which was formally lifted in the Victorian Supreme Court on Tuesday.

He did not appear but the court heard the material used to make the order against Causevic also included a screenshot of a conversation with the teenager in the UK.

The Supreme Court was told Besim had also spoken to the 14-year-old in England.

A heavily redacted copy of the order, with five-and-a-half of the seven pages blacked out, says he is not allowed to have any further contact with “a person”.

After the order was formally lifted, Causevic faced the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, where defence lawyer Rob Stary said he would apply for bail.

The youth appeared calm for his brief hearing, where he was supported by his father and sister.

Mr Stary asked Magistrate Cathy Lamble to comment on the fact the 18-year-old who had no prior convictions was being kept in the maximum security unit of Barwon Prison, Victoria’s toughest prison.

“He’s a young man with no prior history,” Mr Stary said.

The magistrate said Causevic’s youth and history should be considered.

“You’re young, you have no priors, I have said that these factors should be taken into account in determining the conditions of his incarceration,” Ms Lamble said.

Causevic will return to court on April 30 for a bail hearing.

Besim will return to court on Friday.

Outside the Magistrates’ Court, Causevic’s father said his son had been “set up”.

“That is all a set up,” he said.

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