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| Down Under |
| Australian terror suspects had almost 40,000 rounds of military-style ammunition |
| 2006-07-26 |
| ONE of the men accused of plotting a terrorist attack in Australia had enough military-style ammunition to launch a continuous 35-hour barrage of gunfire. The evidence, from a ballistics expert, was quoted in court documents revealed yesterday as part of the case against nine Sydney men accused of planning an attack last year. The prosecution case against the group is so large it has been broken into 93 parts. Court documents allege that as well as planning to construct improvised explosive devices, a massive arsenal was part of the group's plans for an attack. They show that a search in June last year of the home of one of the accused, Mohamed Ali Elomar, unearthed a cache of 12 rifles and pistols and 28,198 rounds of ammunition including 11,765 rounds of 7.62-calibre ammunition. "A ballistics expert has stated it would take approximately 34 hours and 48 minutes to fire all the 7.6239mm rounds in the possession of Elomar with the 7.62 rifle owned by Elomar which was seized by police," the court documents said. When he was arrested in November, two pistols were found under his pillow. Two more of the accused, Bradley Umar Baladjam and Mazen Touma were observed in June last year loading 7500 rounds of the same 7.62-calibre ammuni tion into a truck, which police later seized. "This type of ammunition is used in SKS or AK-47 type semi-automatic weapons," the documents say. Baladjam also tried to purchase a further 20,000 rounds of the 7.62 ammunition between July and August last year. The evidence includes dozens of statements from gun dealers about visits to gun shops and shooting ranges. Police and intelligence agencies watched the nine men's every move for more than a year before arresting them, even allowing them to take a "controlled delivery" of some chemicals that could be used in a bomb. An index of evidence tabled in court includes 205 statements that have not been made available to the defence because they were awaiting an "undertaking". The top-secret evidence raised concerns yesterday that some defence lawyers were deliberately being excluded from the case. Among the statements not served were details of Moustafa Cheikho's alleged training with Lashkar-e-Toiba in 2001. Speaking on behalf of the eight defence lawyers representing the nine accused, Greg Walsh, who is representing Baladjam, said he was concerned security clearances were being required for legal aid payments to exclude certain lawyers from the case. "I think it's a genuine agenda and I think it's a hidden agenda here and I think lawyers like me have a duty to speak out," he said. The eight lawyers have agreed not to submit themselves to security clearances. Prosecutor Wendy Abraham said two of the defence lawyers had been given the material after the prosecution had accepted assurances about its contents. |
| Posted by:Oztralian |
| #1 I sorta think every good citizen should have about that much ammunition. Of course I'm not in gun-restricted Australia. And it's not clear this Mohamed fellow was a citizen at all, let alone a good one. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2006-07-26 20:24 |