AUSTRALIAN POLICE CHARGED an 18-year-old woman on terrorism-related offences, one month after another teenager reported to be her husband faced court on similar charges.
The young woman from suburban Sydney, who was arrested today, is among several teens charged in recent months over alleged plots, as Australian officials become increasingly concerned about homegrown extremism.
The New South Wales state Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) said it charged her with counts of “recklessly possess a thing connected to a terrorist act and recklessly collect documents connected to a terrorist act.”
State police Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn said the charges were linked to a previous case involving an 18-year-old man, who newspaper reports identified as her husband.
We will be alleging that the item that she had possession of was a knife and we will be alleging that the documents that we collected were related to that act also.
“We have previously charged an 18-year-old male with matters relating to this particular act that we are talking about and those matters are also before the court.”
Her arrest comes one month after her reported husband Sameh Bayda faced a Sydney court on three counts of collecting documents likely to facilitate terrorist acts, reportedly including advice on carrying out a stabbing and making a bomb.
Last October, a 15-year-old boy shot dead a civilian employee outside police headquarters in western Sydney before being killed in an exchange of gunfire with officers.
Burn said the investigation was ongoing and “if there are other people involved, we will put them before the courts also”.
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