Australian police have arrested a 20-year-old man they allege was planning to carry out a terror attack during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Melbourne.
The police say the man was born in Australia to Somali parents and had been monitored by police as a “person of interest” since January. They accuse him of being an Islamic State sympathizer.
The authorities say he was planning to use an automatic rifle to carry out a mass shooting, and had plans kill as many people as he could.
“What we will be alleging is that he was intending to use a firearm to shoot and kill as many people as he could in the Federation Square area on New Year’s Eve,” Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said.
Police said the man had not obtained an automatic weapon before his arrest in Werribee, a Melbourne suburb, on Monday.
He is being regarded as a sole terrorist who had obtained an al-Qaeda manual online with instructions for staging a terrorist attack.
The foiled plot comes a year after police prevented another attack in the same area on Christmas Day, arresting several men who planned to use explosives, knives and guns to target the location.
The suspect will be charged with terrorism offences that carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.
