Teen pleads guilty to Anzac terror plot

By LACHLAN MOORHEAD

THE 15-YEAR-OLD boy from Britain implicated in the foiled terror plot allegedly targeting Anzac Day services in Melbourne’s south-east has plead guilty.
The teen pleaded guilty via video link at the Old Bailey to one count of inciting another person to carry out an attack at a service in Australia.
A second charge of inciting terrorism overseas in relation to beheading a person in Australia was dropped.
The boy, 14 at the time, was arrested in April when police intercepted encrypted conversation allegedly with an 18-year-old man in Australia.
The boy, from Blackburn in north-west England, will be sentenced in September.
He cannot be named for legal reasons.
Also in April a 200-strong joint state and federal police counter-terrorism team executed seven search warrants in Narre Warren, Hampton Park, Hallam and Eumemmerring as part of Operation Rising.
As a result Harun Causevic of Hampton Park and Sevdet Ramdan Besim of Hallam were charged with conspiracy to commit acts done in preparation for, or planning, terrorist acts.
A third teenager Mehran Azami, 19, of Narre Warren, was charged with importing weapons planned for use in the foiled plot.
Two other Narre Warren men, aged 18 and 19, were released without charge.
Last month a 16-year-old girl from northern England was charged after she was implicated in the alleged terror plot.
The girl from Manchester has been charged with collecting or making a record of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing for an act of terrorism, or possessing a document or record containing information of that kind.
The UK teen’s trial is scheduled to begin on 17 August in Manchester.