Homeland Security News

A plan to stage a Ramadan terror attack at Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Markets never presented a credible threat, according to Victoria Police, which has assured the state that its anti-terror measures are working,

Assistant Commissioner Ross Guenther has confirmed a Pakistani and Middle Eastern Terrorism cell with ISIS links made contact with a British jihadi hunter to discuss a possible Ramadan attack in Melbourne.

Mr Guenther said the discussions — which included considerations of attacks at several prominent Melbourne landmarks — never presented a real threat to Victorian civilians, because they were had entirely with a civilian in the UK.

Addressing the media, Mr Guenther hosed down concerns that Melbourne landmarks faced an imminent threat.

“Victoria Police is well positioned to keep people safe from terrorism and I emphasise there is no need for undue concern,” Mr Guenther said.

Read more: The Australian

A New York man who traveled to Turkey to join the Islamic State group said Monday he thought it would be the best way to help victimized Syrians and that he never wanted to be a fighter, as prosecutors contended.

Before being sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization, Arafat Nagi said his goal was to provide humanitarian aid.

But it was a claim U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara said he had a hard time believing after looking at Nagi’s graphic and violent social media posts and a photo showing him wearing camouflage and posing with an assault-style rifle, his face, except for his eyes, covered in black.

Read more: Las Vegas Review Journal

German authorities say they have arrested an 18-year-old Iraqi man on suspicion of being a member of the international extremist organization, the Islamic State group.

Federal prosecutors say Aqram A., whose full name was withheld on privacy grounds, was preliminary detained Wednesday in the southwestern Rhine-Neckar district.

Prosecutors said Thursday the man is suspected of joining the Islamic State group in 2014 in Mosul where he completed military training for approximately four weeks. During the ensuing period, he worked as a guard and prepared fighting positions for the Islamic State group. In the summer of 2015, the suspect took part in fighting near the Iraqi town Beiji.

Read more: Tampay Bay Times

Police arrested two teens in Virginia who were planning a terrorist attack at a high school prom over the weekend, authorities said Monday.

Michael Coleman, 18, and an unnamed 17-year-old were arrested and charged with conspiring to commit a terrorist attack at the Bayside High School prom in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on June 9, police announced Monday.

The teens were taken into custody after police found a semi-automatic rifle in a room they shared at The Westin Hotel in Town Center, where prom was taking place last Saturday evening.

The suspects were not affiliated with the school, but they were placed under police watch after they purchased tickets to the prom.

Read more: ABC News

A man has been charged with arson and terrorism in fires that damaged the entrance of a Pennsylvania city hall and a nearby vehicle last month.

Dwain Stewart London Jr., 29, is charged with two counts of terrorism, two counts of arson, reckless burning or exploding, institutional vandalism and conspiracy.

Authorities consider the May 23 blaze at the Lancaster City Hall not merely property damage but an "act of intimidation," Lancaster police chief Jarrad Berkihiser told reporters Tuesday.

London has told police he was home at the time of the fires. Court documents don't list an attorney representing him, and a message left at a number listed in his name wasn't immediately returned Tuesday.

Berkihiser said surveillance video showed London purchasing gas hours before the fire and an unidentified passenger emerging from his vehicle, entering the store, and then carrying a small red container that appeared to be a gas can. Police said his gait matches that of a man seen on video before and after the fire. That person is being sought.

Read more: U.S. News and World Report