Aussie had 'Plausible reason' for explosives
A BRISBANE high school teacher was not a terrorist and had a "completely plausible" explanation for the stockpile of explosives found at his home by police, his lawyer said today.
Don't you just love lawyers. The more evidence there is against their client the wilder the explanations.
John Howard Amundsen, 40, of Aspley in Brisbane's north, today briefly appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court charged with one count of fraud after allegedly obtaining 53kg of an explosive using false identification.
Police will not rule out the possibility that four bombs some embedded with nails and razor blades and 10 detonators allegedly found at Mr Amundsen's Windrest Avenue home during a raid on Tuesday night were being stockpiled for a terrorist attack.
Outside of court Mr Amundsen's lawyer, Andrew Boe, lashed out at the media for reporting allegations his client was a terrorist. "Mr Amundsen is not a terrorist, he's not associated with any terrorist organisations," he said.
OK, so he's a lone nutcase.
"He's just a man who loves explosives. Really loves explosives." | "I think the public should and the media should just drop the ante a little bit about being too preoccupied that this has got anything to do with terrorism it hasn't."
He said there was a "completely plausible and non-nefarious explanation for the circumstances in which he finds himself" but would not elaborate. "I refuse (to reveal) ... the nature of the evidence, it would not be responsible of me to do so and certainly not responsible for the media to speculate simply because some allegations have been placed before the court," Mr Boe said.
Police say they expect to lay further charges.
Magistrate Noel Nunan remanded Amundsen in custody to again face court for mention on May 18. Suppression orders relating to an alleged missing amount of explosives and on details about how the bombs were allegedly built were lifted by Mr Nunan.
Let me guess, he was making a documentary called Jihad/Eco-terrorism/Anti-Capitalist Direct Action for Dummies.
Posted by: phil_b 2006-05-11 |