Police and intelligence officers are poring over documents seized in a fresh round of counter-terrorism raids in New South Wales. The action is part of the ongoing Operation Pendennis, which has resulted in multiple terrorism-related arrests and charges in Sydney and Melbourne since November last year.On March 9 Federal Police, their New South Wales counterparts and ASIO raided homes at Hoxton Park and Bankstown, in Sydney's south-west. A number of prison cells at Goulburn jail were also raided. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and ASIO are now assessing documents seized in the raids. No arrests were made and no homes were searched in Victoria. The AFP has confirmed the raids are related to Operation Pendennis. Last November, police claimed they had foiled a major terrorist plot when they simultaneously raided homes in Sydney and Melbourne in the early hours of the morning.
Meanwhile the lawyer for a man arrested during terrorism raids in Sydney last year says authorities breached legal privilege by taking documents from his client's cell during a jail raid. Lawyer Greg Walsh says Omar Baladjam's cell and family home were raided. Mr Walsh says confidential notes Mr Baladjam had made were removed from his cell. "I'm very concerned that authorities, knowing that I was going to visit Mr Baladjam, would in those circumstances seize documents that he'd prepared for the sole purpose of seeking and obtaining legal advice from his lawyer," Mr Walsh said. "So there's a remarkable coincidence that authorities raid his former home and raid his cell, and take confidential records or documents that he's prepared to get legal advice [on]. So any citizen in the community out there can be subject to obviously an arbitrary raid and it would be simple outrage that such documents could be seized by authorities in these circumstances."