COUNTER-terrorism police have obtained a warrant for the arrest of Melbourne man Neil Prakash on Islamic State terror charges.
Prakash is believed to be in Syria and is regarded by Australian authorities as one of IS’s top recruiters. He uses various social media platforms to approach and groom young Australians, among others.
He is alleged to have had contact with some of those arrested over an alleged plot to stage a terror attack in Melbourne on Anzac Day.
Australian security officials have been monitoring his efforts to recruit Australians to either fight in Syria or to stage terror attacks at home.
The Victorian Joint Counter-Terrorism Team, comprising Victoria Police and AFP detectives, has been building a brief of evidence of his activities since February.
The AFP confirmed the warrant in a statement to the Herald Sun, saying: “Should Prakash return to Australia, this warrant authorises law enforcement to arrest him immediately.”
Prakash’s passport was cancelled last October and his driver’s licence is suspended.
Of Fijian-Cambodian origin, Prakash lived in Noble Park and Clayton South in Melbourne’s southeast. He attended the now closed Al-Furqan Islamic Information Centre where he converted to Islam from Buddhism in 2010.
Individuals who visit that centre have been linked to multiple alleged terror plots.
Prakash uses open online forums to attract followers and communicates with them on encrypted apps, using aliases.
He speaks openly of his association with other prominent IS terrorists including a British hacker high on the “kill list” of the US Defence Department in the Pentagon.
That operative claims to have advised a young Melbourne man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, of how to build a bomb.
Prakash routinely posts on social media explicit calls for crude, brutal attacks at home.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/warrant-issued-for-islamic-state-recruiter-neil-prakash/story-fni0fiyv-1227490609495
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