Tenth person charged over Wakeley church riot, say NSW police
A tenth person has been charged in relation to their alleged participation in the Wakeley church riot, according to New South Wales police.
The 27-year-old was arrested at a home in Granville in western Sydney on Saturday after several items alleged to be linked to the incident were seized by the strike force.
He was then taken to Granville Police Station where he was charged with rioting and throwing a missile at a police officer without causing bodily harm. He was refused bail and will appear before Parramatta Local Court on Sunday.
Police are still seeking the identities of several people wanted for questioning in connection to the riot. Images of the men have been distributed by investigators with Strike Force Dribs, established after the incident.
Another person aged 19 years old was arrested at a home in Sydney’s Fairfield West on Friday afternoon after the execution of a search warrant by officers from the strike force. He was taken to Fairfield police station where he was charged with rioting and aggravated break and enter.
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Several items alleged to be linked to the riot were seized from his home. The man was refused bail to appear before Parramatta local court on Saturday.
It comes as a sixth teenager has been charged with terrorism-related offences after raids across Sydney suburbs this week, with investigations continuing into an alleged network of extremist youth.
On Wednesday, more than 400 officers from NSW police and the Australian federal police executed 13 search warrants across a number of suburbs in Sydney, including Bankstown, Prestons, Casula, Lurnea, Rydalmere, Greenacre, Strathfield, Chester Hill and Punchbowl, as well as a premises in Goulburn.
Seven teenage boys were arrested, while a further five people assisted police with their inquiries.
Of those arrested, five, aged between 14 and 17, were charged with a range of terrorism offences the following day and refused bail to appear at Parramatta children’s court.
On Friday, a 15-year-old who had been held in police custody since his arrest was charged with conspiring to engage in any act in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act. He was refused bail to appear at a children’s court on Saturday.
The seventh teenager was released pending further investigation.
The charge came amid the ongoing investigations into the 16-year-old who allegedly stabbed 53-year-old Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church in Wakeley last week.
The assault, during a livestreamed sermon, sparked a riot of more than 2,000 people.
At a press conference on Wednesday, the deputy commissioner of the AFP, Krissy Barrett, said that authorities did not believe there was any evidence of a specific planned attack.
“We identified links between the alleged offender and a network of associates and peers who we believe shared a similar violent extremist ideology,” she said. “At this time, we have no evidence of specific locations, times, or targets of a violent act.”
The counter-terror arrests were carried out by the Sydney joint counter-terrorism team, comprised of members of the NSW police, Australian federal police, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) and NSW Crime Commission.
