SYDNEY: Australian police have charged five men suspected of planning to travel to Syria to join Islamic State (IS) via a journey that would have started in a small motor boat taking them to Indonesia and the Philippines.
The men, aged between 21 and 31, were charged on Saturday with preparing to enter a foreign country “for the purpose of engaging in hostile activities”, an offence that carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Australian Attorney-General George Brandis told reporters yesterday that “their intentions to travel to the Middle East to engage in terrorist war fighting were known to the authorities,” and that their passports had earlier been cancelled.
The five, who were not named, were arrested on Tuesday after towing the sevenmeter motor boat almost 3,000km from Melbourne to Cairns. The men, in custody since Tuesday, will appear in court today.