Australian police foil ‘imminent’ terror attack

Two men were in police custody after counterterrorism raids in Sydney, a police official said Wednesday. The arrests were made in the Sydney suburb of Fairfield on Tuesday, the official, who spoke on the police service’s usual condition of anonymity, said. She would give no other details. The official would not comment on media reports that police seized a hunting knife, flag and other items in the raids. A gunman claiming to represent the Islamic State movement took 18 people hostage in a 16-hour siege in a Sydney cafe in December. The siege ended in a blaze of gunfire with police rushing the cafe. The gunman and two hostages died.

When we did the search of the premises, a number of items were located, including a machete, a hunting knife, a home-made flag representing the prescribed terrorist organisation IS, and also a video which depicted a man talking about carrying out an attack.

New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn

Asia-Pacific Australia plot