South Australian police have arrested a man for possessing an improvised explosive device while a second has been charged with the possession of extremist material during a series of raids across Adelaide targeting members of the far-right.
SA police confirmed it had searched “a number of domestic premises across the metropolitan area” on Wednesday.
A police spokesperson said the searches were part of an investigation related to “people associated with ideologically motivated violent extremism”.
The spokesperson confirmed the raids had led to two arrests, including a 32-year-old man from Munno Para in Adelaide’s outer suburbs.
Police allege the man was found in possession of “an improvised explosive device and possessing instructions for manufacturing explosive, prohibited and dangerous weapons”. He was bailed to appear in court on 26 May.
A second man, a 28-year-old from Surrey Downs, was also arrested for possessing extremist material. He was also charged, and is due to appear in court on 22 June.
“The investigation remains ongoing and there has been no known threat to any person or the public,” the police spokesperson said.
The arrests came on the same day that the leader of the Australian neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Network, Tom Sewell, claimed 15 people who may have been associated with his group had been targeted by police.
First reported by Business Insider, in a video on social media Sewell claimed police had seized electronic devices and “political material” during the searches.
“They didn’t even knock, they just kicked down the doors with, you know, a dozen or so armed special operations police, that’s the information I’ve been getting in now,” he said.
“I’m not sure who has been arrested and whether they’re associated with us.”
Sewell, a longtime member of the far-right in Australia, has become increasingly vocal on social media since his arrest in March over the alleged assault of a Channel Nine security guard in Melbourne.
He is the former leader of the now defunct far-right group the Lad’s Society. The royal commission into New Zealand’s Christchurch massacre detailed a number of links between the shooter and the group.
