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Two Sydney Men Sentenced To At Least 15 Years Jail For Failed Terror Plot

The pair were arrested in February 2015.
Two Sydney men have been sentenced to a 20-year jail sentence for preparing to commit a terror attack.
David Gray / Reuters
Two Sydney men have been sentenced to a 20-year jail sentence for preparing to commit a terror attack.

Two Sydney men have been sentenced to at least 15 years in jail for preparing to commit a terrorist attack from their Fairfield residence in February 2015.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, 25-year old Omar Al-Kutobi and 27-year old Mohammad Kiad were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 15 years by Justice Peter Garling in the NSW Supreme Court in Parramatta on Friday.

Less than a week before their trial was set to begin in July, Al-Kutobi and Kiad both pleaded guilty to their alleged charges.

The pair were arrested following counter-terrorism police raids of their granny flat in Sydney's western suburbs in February 2015 and charged on one count each of acting in preparation or planning for a terrorist attack.

The alleged terror plot was focused on the bombing of a Sydney Shia prayer hall and the stabbing of people in the kidneys to impress an IS recruiter.

During last year's raids, police seized a hunting knife, machete, home-made Islamic State flag and a video of Al-Kutobi vowing to strike the kidneys and necks of white people.

At the time of the arrest, NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn said: "We believe the men were potentially going to harm somebody, maybe even kill somebody, potentially using [the knife]."

"We will be alleging that the two men were well advanced in their preparations."

It is believed the pair worked together prior to their arrest as removalists and were planning the Islamic State-inspired attack as revenge for incidents occurring overseas related to the terror group.

Al-Kutobi arrived in Australia as a refugee and became a citizen in 2013 before becoming a nursing student in western Sydney. Kiad moved to Australia from Kuwait in 2012 and spent time working as a security guard.

More to come.

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