SYDNEY (Reuters) - Nine Muslim men arrested in Australia's biggest security swoop, and charged with planning a terrorist act, pretended to be women texting girlfriends to secretly communicate, a prosecutor told a court on Friday. "Hi babes, I'm missing you," one message read, while another said: "How you going love, did Sue want to meet me".During a bail application for one of the men, Khaled Cheikho, 32, in the New South Wales Supreme Court, a prosecutor said the men used "covert phones" under false names and code to communicate, Australian Associated Press reported from the court.
One message between Cheikho and co-accused Mohammed Elomar referred to the purchase of some insulation tape allegedly used to make explosives, said prosecutor Wendy Abraham. "Hello darling, could you let me know if you still have rolls of the silver tape," a message from Cheikho read.
Abraham said the text messages were also used to organize meetings between the men.
Cheikho is the first to have a bail hearing. The bail hearing has been adjourned until June.
Eighteen Muslim men, one an Islamic cleric, were arrested in raids in Sydney and Melbourne last December and charged with being members of a terrorist organization and/or plotting a terrorist attack.
In an earlier court appearance in Melbourne, a prosecutor said the men discussed revenge attacks against Australia and killing Prime Minister John Howard. In a Sydney court, a prosecutor said the men arrested in Sydney may have been planning to attack the city's small research nuclear reactor.