Australian police are investigating whether a student accused of training with terrorists was part of a Sydney-based cell being set up by French terror suspect Willie Brigitte, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Friday. Pakistani-born Izhar ul-Haque, a 21-year-old medical student, was charged on Thursday with training at camps run by the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Downer said Australian federal police were looking at how deep Izhar ul-Haqueâs connections were with Lashkar and Brigitte. âHe probably has some linkages I would imagine, that is for sure,â Downer told ABC Radio. âBut whether those are within Australia thatâll be something obviously the Federal Police will be investigating.â Reports said the student was a known associate of a man known by the alias Abu Hamza, who is believed to have been Brigitteâs main contact in Sydney.
| Seems to me there are entirely too many Abu Hamzas in this world... |
The Australian newspaper reported that three other men linked to the Brigitte investigation remained at large in Australia. It said the countryâs most secure jail the âSupermaxâ in New South Wales state, which houses some of Australiaâs most notorious serial killers and criminals had been told to prepare to receive at least two terrorists. Haque is the first person charged under tightened terrorist laws introduced after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. He faces up to 25 years jail if found guilty. Prosecutors allege he trained with the Lashkar for three weeks in January last year, where he learned to fight and use weapons. They said the Lashkar advised him he could do more for his cause by being a doctor, rather than a martyr, and he decided against offering his life to jihad. Haqueâs friends expressed surprise at the medical studentâs alleged link to terrorism. |