Four Muslim teenagers have admitted planning a terror attack, more than two years after they were arrested and charged in the wake of the stabbing of a Sydney bishop.
The four males, who cannot be named as they were minors at the time of their crimes, were among seven ISIS-linked teens who were raided by the NSW Joint Counter-Terrorism Team in response to the Islamic terrorist attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in Wakeley in April 2024.
They appeared in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday where they pleaded guilty to conspiring to prepare a terrorist attack, and will be sentenced in April next year, The Saturday Telegraph reported.
One previously pleaded guilty in the Children’s Court to illegally supplying a firearms, and two others pleaded guilty to sharing violent extremist material.
The teenagers, who were aged 15, 16 and 17 at the time, were part of a radical Islamist network, which included Bishop Emmanuel’s attacker and another male who allegedly took part in a series of gang bashings of homosexuals.
The terror plot was uncovered after police made an arrest for unrelated offences and gained access to a group chat named “Plans” on messaging app Signal.
In the chat the teenagers discussed targeting Jewish people, obtaining firearms on the black market, wanting to do Jihad, and having hatred for non-Muslims, a court heard after their arrests.
One talked about being “excited” and said “I wanna die and I wanna kill”, to which another responded “We’re gonna kill [don’t worry] … but we need patience”.
Another wrote “Allah is the best of planners and we are the soldiers of Allah”, and one wrote in a note on his phone: “There is much to plan brothers … think of yourselves as soldiers now … you are not children”.
Bishop Emmanuel lost an eye in the stabbing at the Christ The Good Shepherd Church, which occurred while his Assyrian service was being livestreamed, and police declared the incident a religiously motivated terror attack.
The then-16-year-old attacker was heard saying “Allahu Akbar” as worshippers disarmed him, and was charged with committing a terrorist act, attempted murder, and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Header image: Left, right, two of the teenagers being arrested in 2024 (NSW Police).
