Seven members of a radical extremist group were apprehended in Sydney after a teenage boy allegedly carried out a stabbing attack on an Orthodox Christian bishop on April 15.
The group was being monitored by counter-terrorism authorities.
This week, the group’s behavior got out of control, and law enforcers were worried that an attack was about to happen.
No specific targets were identified, but the group’s loose nature and its members’ past actions alarmed authorities.
David Hudson, a deputy commissioner of NSW police, said authorities had to act.
More than a dozen properties were searched in Sydney and the southern city of Goulburn.
Seven people were apprehended, and five more juveniles were also taken into custody.
Officials said they were targeting the suspects due to their backgrounds, not because they were religious.
Krissy Barrett, the deputy commissioner for national security, noted that authorities were targeting radicalization.
The incident occurred a week ago, when a teenage boy allegedly attacked Isaac Royel, an Assyrian Catholic priest, and Mar Mari Emmanuel, an Assyrian bishop, during a service in Wakeley.
During his first court appearance on Friday, his lawyer said that his client had been suffering from mental health issues for a long time.
The 16-year-old boy was charged with committing a terrorist act, and this carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Lebanese Muslim leaders in Sydney said that the family did not believe that he had been radicalized before the attack.
Members of the counter-terrorism squad that arrested the suspects were from federal, state, and local police agencies.
During a press briefing, Australian federal police commissioner Reece Kershaw said that the operation was a major one.
He noted that it was aimed at preventing another attack. Some people were also charged with participating in the riots that occurred after the stabbing.