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SYDNEY (Reuters) – Police announced on Tuesday that it had arrested three men who were apparently preparing to attack the public in Melbourne, less than two weeks after the murder of a man in the second largest city. Australia through terrorism, a terrorist act.
The Australian federal and state police, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization and other agencies in the joint anti-terrorism team made the arrests on Tuesday morning.
Police said three men aged 30, 26 and 21 were arrested after apparently seeking a semi-automatic weapon to carry out an attack.
The 21-year-old has been accused of planning a terrorist act, the police said.
All were Australian citizens and their passports had been canceled earlier this year.
"We now have enough evidence to prevent a terrorist attack," Graham Ashton, chief police commissioner for Victoria, told reporters.
Police said the suspects had not yet decided where to attack them but that they thought the act was imminent.
"They were definitely looking for a mass meeting place, where there would be crowds," Ashton said. "They were trying to focus on trying to have a place where they could kill as many people as possible."
Police said they thought the arrests had canceled any threat from the group.
Australia, a convinced ally of the United States that has sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq, has been under increased alert since 2014 for attacks perpetrated by local militants returning from fighting in the Middle East or their followers.
Australia currently considers the likelihood of a militant attack as "likely", a central point of a five-level threat ranking system. It has been set at this level since the implementation of the system in 2015.
Police said the three men were known to the authorities and their passports had been canceled, fearing to visit a conflict zone abroad.
The arrests took place less than two weeks after a man set fire to a pickup truck loaded with gas cylinders in central Melbourne and stabbed three people, killing one, before he was shot down by the police.
As in this attack, police said on Tuesday that the three men were inspired by the Islamic State rather than led by the militant group.
Police said the three suspects had no connection with the man responsible for the 9 November attack, although they intensified their preparations for the assault.
"Certainly, last week, they were excited to do something faster," Ashton said.
Report by Wayne Cole, Colin Packham and Karishma Luthria Editing of Lincoln Feast and Paul Tait
