'I'm a tourist ... not a terrorist': Merrylands man posts happy snaps on Facebook after anti-terror raids
Yoni Bashan State Politrical Reporter
The Sunday Telegraph
December 7,2013
Mehmet Biber, 21, one of six men allegedly sent to fight in Syria with rebel forces, posted happy snaps and a message to friends after raids by anti-terror authorities in Sydney on Tuesday.
"I'm a tourist not a terrorist," Mr Biber, of Merrylands, in Sydney's west, wrote beside four photographs of various landmarks which indicate he is in Istanbul, Turkey.
The posting was prompted after his name emerged during a bail hearing for alleged ringleader Hamdi Alqudsi, 39, who was arrested in the raids.
Police allege Biber was one of several men sent by a network of individuals, lead by Alqudsi, to "engage in armed hostilities" in Syria.
Biber's earlier postings from late October indicate time spent in Syria. They include pictures of bombed out buildings, injured children and a dead aid worker. A video uploaded from a mobile phone shows rebel forces firing at a helicopter.
He has also previously quoted the deceased US-born Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who had been described by NSW counter terror chief Peter Dein as one of the most dangerous men in the world.
Biber's family claim he left Australia to go on holiday.
Police have also identified links between Biber and members of the street gang Brothers For Life. One of those gang members, Hicham Ismail, is on remand facing sentencing next year for a brutal assault.
That link is one of several that have emerged between Sydney's religious Islamic community and the BFL street gang.
Other links have also been brought to light through the work of a police taskforce known as Strike Force Maloney, which has been investigating an attempted murder outside a sex club at Rydalmere on May 1.
One man charged with the alleged shooting is Osama Sarwat Toffic, identified by police as an associate of the BFL gang.
Toffic was arrested as he tried to board a flight for Germany, en route to Turkey, on November 15.
Police will allege Wassim Fayad, 46, a figurehead during last year's Muslim riots, assisted Toffic to leave Australia.
Fayad has been charged with being an accessory to the attempted murder, along with two other men, including Wesam Hamze, 29, a first-cousin to BFL founder Bassam Hamzy.
Hamzy, a follower of radical Islam, is presently in Supermax jail.
Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad Commander Deb Wallace said a number of BFL members had an interest in Islam, however their motives for crime were not based on religion.
"Certainly some arrested recently have been more involved in Islam but it's not because of that they are involved in criminal activity," Det Supt Wallace said.
"There have been cases where they might say a particular crime is based on religious reasons, but that to me is an excuse."
While the BFL leadership were weakened a series of arrests last month, one issue remaining for police is the emergence of its Blacktown chapter, which is stacked with Afghans and Middle Eastern recruits.
It is lead by a man who cannot be named, due to a court order, but he is known locally as "The Afghan".
He has beaten three separate murder charges and was recruited directly by Hamzy while in jail.
His younger brother was recently charged over the alleged shooting of rival BFL gang members during a drug turf war in Bankstown.
Washed Karimi, 18, also born in another Afghanistan, was charged in relation to that shooting. His older brother Mohammed Karimi is serving a minimum 30-years jail over the unrelated 2010 murder of security guard Kesley Burgess.
A third man charged over the Chokolatta shooting is Iranian Mobin Merzaei, 22.
He is the younger brother of Mesbah Merzaei, 25, who was charged over the attempted extortion of a smash repairer in North Sydney.
Det Supt Wallace said the recruitment of siblings was not a new trend.
"The idea is hopefully these young ones grow up and grow out," he said.
