Australian consular officials expect to make their first contact with three Australians terror suspects detained in Yemen later today or tonight. The three, brothers Mohammed and Abdullah Ayub and another man, Marat Sumolsky, 35, are among a group of eight foreigners with alleged links to al-Qaeda who are facing terrorism charges in Yemen over an alleged plot to smuggle arms to Somalia. The men were arrested more than two weeks ago but the scheduled visit will be the first by Australian officials. Attempts to see the men earlier have been hampered by the Eid religious festival. A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and trade in Canberra said Yemeni authorities had assured the Australian official they could see the men on November 4 after the Yemeni weekend. "What we are hoping to do is supply normal consular assistance which is monitoring their welfare and assisting them to access proper judicial processes," he said.