Over 800 police conducted raids across Sydney, with 25 search warrants, looking for suspects linked to an Islamic State beheading plot. At least three raids were also conducted in Brisbane. Fifteen people have been detained in Sydney, including Omarjan Azari, 22, and are thought to have been tasked by Australian IS operative Mohammad Ali Baryalei with filming the beheading of an Australian for use in IS propaganda. A warrant was issued last week for the arrest of Baryalei, an IS commander who has recruited at least 30 Australians and is thought to be in Syria. Police said they had been tracking the plot since May, and warned that the suspects were planning attacks in Australia. Raids in Brisbane were linked to arrests last week of two suspected Al Nusrah Front recruiters. Earlier this week men in a car with an Islamic State flag made death threats outside a Maronite Christian school in Sydney. Authorities shut down a Sydney money-transfer business suspected of funneling cash to terrorists, and seized passports of persons in Melbourne linked to jailed terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika.
