More Anzac Day terror charges
A Melbourne teen allegedly plotted to behead a police officer in an Anzac Day terror attack to “make sure the dogs remember” it along with war dead.
Sevdet Ramadan Besim, 18, of Hallam, has been in custody since April 18 when 200 heavily armed officers swooped on the city’s southeast, arresting five teens and seizing knives and swords.
Besim is accused of planning to run over, then behead, a police officer before continuing his violent rampage.
• 200 on Victorian terror watch list
• Two arrests in Sydney terror raids
Police allege he wanted to attack Australia’s authority because it would show weakness and put fear into the general population.
Previous court hearings have been told he is motivated by an extremist ideology and has expressed support for proscribed terrorist organisations which adopt a radical interpretation of Islam.
He chose Anzac Day to “make sure the dogs remember this as well as there fallen heros (sic)”, police allege.
Besim appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday for a committal hearing that had been scheduled for two days, but the matter was adjourned.
Friends and supporters lined the back row of the court and one called out “see you Sevdet” as the teen left the dock.
The court heard four new charges had been laid.
Besim now faces charges of conducting internet searches of Anzac Day in Melbourne and Dandenong, engaging in communications and creating an electronic memo on his phone – all in preparation for a terrorist attack.
In April, he was charged with conspiring to do an act in preparation for or planning a terror act, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Police allege Besim said he was “ready to fight these dogs on there (sic) doorstep” in online communications with a person overseas, according to court documents.
“I’d love to take out some cops,” Besim is alleged to have said.
“I was gonna meet with them then take some heads ahaha.”
A terror charge against one of the other teens arrested in the raids, Harun Causevic, 18, was dropped in August and he instead pleaded guilty to three minor weapons charges.
Besim’s case was adjourned until January 28.
– AAP