Authorities Revoke Passport Of Australian Man Suspected Of Planning To Go To Syria To Join ISIS

The passport of the Australian man who was suspected of plotting to travel to Syria to join ISIS was revoked. The 27-year-old man, whose identity is only “RZBV” in official documents, denied the allegations and said he wanted to travel to Turkey to see his relatives and get married.

On May 7, the Minister of Foreign Affairs office cancelled the Australian’s passport because the country’s security and intelligence office believes he planned to travel to Syria to support ISIS. The Australia Security and Intelligence Office said the man could be a possible threat to Australia and other countries if he is allowed to have his Australian passport, which was issued in 2009.

When the man found out about the cancellation, he contacted ASIO on May 8. He explained that he was interviewed by the Australian Federal Police before his intended departure from Australia. The AFP also asked if he was travelling to the Turkey-Syria border.

The Australian man told police officers that he did not know anything about Syria other than the article presented to him during the interview. The man said he had no plans of engaging in politically motivated violence. He revealed he planned to take $39,000 with him if he left Australia to pursue investment opportunities.

“It is ASIO’s continued assessment that if the applicant held an Australian passport he would be likely to engage in conduct that may prejudice the security of Australia or a foreign country and his passport should remain cancelled in order to prevent him from engaging in that conduct,” said an ASIO senior officer.

ABC reports that during a tribunal hearing, the man was asked if he supported ISIS’s attempts to establish a caliphate. He said he was not part of the group and he didn’t speak Arabic. “Just because I’m Muslim, it doesn’t mean I want to join them or anything,” added the man.

An alleged terror plot, intended for Mother’s Day, was recently foiled by Australian police. AFP charged a teenager for attempting to carry out a terrorist attack. Police officers searched his house in a Melbourne suburb and found three improvised explosive devices, reports New York Times.

The teen, whose name has been withheld by authorities, was under surveillance for five days, according to senior police official who spoke in a news conference. Michael Phelan, deputy commissioner of the AFP, said the teen committed a serious offence but made it clear that the recent case was not related to the Greenvale teen who was arrested last month due to allegations of a terror plot.

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