British boy, 14, arrested in Blackburn over alleged Anzac Day terror plot in Australia

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/british-boy-14-arrested-in-blackburn-over-alleged-anzac-day-terror-plot-in-australia-10189084.html

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A 14-year-old British boy has been arrested in connection with an alleged terror plot to attack the 100th anniversary commemoration of Anzac Day in Australia.

The teenager was taken into custody in Blackburn, Lancashire, on Saturday, on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of terrorism, Greater Manchester Police said.

It comes after Australian police made several arrests in relation to an alleged plan to stage an attack at events in Melbourne to mark the centenary of the Anzac landings in Turkey during the First World War in 1915.

The teenager was arrested after police allegedly uncovered communications with an 18-year-old man in Australia. No details of the communications have been released as they form part of the investigation, Australian police said.

Two teenagers are held in Australia, including the 18-year-old, who has been identified by Australian media as Sevdet Besim from Narre Warren, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne.

The alleged plot is said to have involved targeting police officers at the ceremony marking the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps’ First World War battle in Gallipoli on April 25.

Three other men from the same town, aged 18 and 19, have been released pending further enquiries.

Sevdet Besim making in Isis-associated sign in an Instagram photo In a joint statement, Victoria Police and the Australian Federal Police said they “can confirm a link between the arrest of a 14-year-old boy in Blackburn, Lancashire, in the United Kingdom on Saturday with Operation Rising, a Joint Counter Terrorism Team operation.”

Counter-terrorism officers executed a warrant at an address in Blackburn on April 2 following the examination of a number of electronic devices.

Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Mole, from the North West Counter Terrorism Unit (NWCTU), said: “I want to reassure the public that we have not uncovered an imminent attack in the UK and there is no immediate threat towards the communities of Lancashire, the North West and the UK.”