Terrorist Attack Thwarted in Australia

Breaking news! Overnight police raids in New South Wales and Victoria have foiled a terrorist plot and new anti-terrorism legislation has been credited as making the raids possible.

From ABCNews Online:

Sixteen people have been arrested in raids conducted by more than 400 police on a number of suburbs in Sydney and Melbourne.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Ken Moroney says a terrorist attack has been foiled.

"I am satisfied that we have disrupted what I would regard as the final stages of a terrorist attack or the launch of a terrorist attack in Australia," he said.

"We will continue our investigations both at a Commonwealth and state level to identify those that may be related to those persons now under investigation."

Victoria's Police Commissioner, Christine Nixon, agrees that police have prevented a major terrorist attack from occurring.

In Melbourne, an Algerian-born Muslim Imam Abdul Nacer Benbrika, also known as Abu Bakr, was among those arrested. Abu Bakr is the spiritual leader of some of the terrorist suspects. Nevertheless, members of the Australian Muslim community expressed surprise at the raids.

In my opinion, the passing of tough, albeit controversial, anti-terrorism laws has to be recognized as the key element which allowed the thwarting of the suspected plot.