One of two men arrested in Tuesday’s counter-terrorism raids breached the terms of a control order by calling his mother and an associate, a Sydney court has heard.
A second man, Sulayman Khalid, 20, was refused bail in Parramatta local court on Wednesday after being charged with possession of documents designed to facilitate a terrorist attack.
There is no suggestion that the two cases are directly linked.
The magistrate in the same court rejected the application for bail of the first man, who cannot be identified, saying there was an “unacceptable risk” the man would commit further offences if he were released.
Counsel for the director of public prosecutions told the court the breaches of the order occurred when the man made two unauthorised phone calls – one from a mobile phone and the other from a pay phone.
The conditions of the order specified that he was prohibited from using a public phone except in case of emergency.
“The second was a mobile phone which was not a mobile phone he was approved to use,” he said.
But the man’s lawyer, Arjun Chhabra, told the court the breach was “technical” and bail should be granted.
“There must be a factual, evidentiary basis that this was done to evade, given that the court has before us the contents of those phone calls ... the alternative and reasonable inference the court must draw is that there was nothing nefarious discussed,” he said.
He told the court that one of the alleged breaches related to one phone call made to an associate about fitness training.
The second alleged breach occurred when the man was phoning his mother, and that the restrictions imposed by the control order were “incredibly restrictive, proscriptive and prohibitive”.
“There is no suggestion that anything nefarious was discussed during those phone calls. Indeed in one of those phone calls the contents went to exercise … getting together to exercise, nothing more,” Chhabra said.
A further hearing for the matter will be set down in February.
The AFP assistant commissioner personally sought control orders against two men last Thursday.
The two men were served with notices on Friday putting the orders in place. The court notices told the men to “seek legal advice about this application” and gives them the opportunity to file a response in anticipation for an upcoming hearing to determine whether the control orders will be confirmed.
Khalid – whose case is not related to the that of the man who breached the control order – was arrested at his home in Regent’s Park on Tuesday afternoon. He did not apply for bail on Wednesday and it was formally refused. He was remanded in custody and is due to appear in court again in February.
The Australian Federal Police said the arrests were made by members of the joint counter-terrorism team with NSW police as part of Operation Appleby.
The AFP said it was monitoring a group of about 15-20 people.
AFP deputy commissioner Michael Phelan told reporters on Wednesday morning the group had been having “conversations and activity” for a year.
In September more than 800 police were involved in raids that led to 15 people being detained and one charged.
Phelan said a “significant amount” of material had been seized in the September raids that gave rise to concern for law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and resulted in Wednesday’s charges.
He said police believed the group was involved in supporting terrorism “through funding or otherwise”, and had been involved in facilitiating the travel of people to foreign states to engage in fighting.
On Tuesday the prime minister, Tony Abbott, warned that intelligence agencies had picked up increased terrorism “chatter” and reiterated that the security threat level remained high, meaning a terrorist attack was “likely”.
