Five Islamic extremists - including firebrand preacher Musa Cerantonio - who planned to sneak out of Australia by boat to join Islamic State in Syria had all had their passports cancelled, police have said.
Police confirmed on Wednesday morning the five men aged between 21 and 33 were suspected of planning to take a seven-metre motor boat to Indonesia before travelling to the Philippines and then on to Syria. They stressed the men were not planning any attack in Australia.
None had yet been charged as of Wednesday morning but they faced foreign incursions charges, which outlaw travelling to another country with the intention of fighting. They were being interviewed in Queensland after eight search warrants were executed in Melbourne and one in Queensland.
Police refused to name the men, but Fairfax Media has confirmed ABC reports that Mr Cerantonio was among them, as was Shayden Thorne, the brother of notorious preacher Junaid Thorne.
Australian Federal Police assistant commissioner Neil Gaughan said the men were serious and committed, dragging a seven-metre boat all the way from Melbourne to Queensland.
"They were committed, obviously very committed," he said. "The fact that they've gone all the way from Melbourne all the way to far north Queensland indicates that these people were extremely committed in their adventure and their attempt to leave the country."
Mr Gaughan said that if they had been able to get out of Australia to Indonesia, they likely would have made it to Syria.
"There are well-traversed routes for people involved in people smuggling, transnational crime and other activities which they would just be able to use … There is evidence to suggest they knew what they were up to."
Mr Cerantonio was deported in 2014 from the Philippines where he had been hiding out. At that time he was regarded as one of the world's most prominent online English-language preachers of the extremism espoused by the Islamic State.
He had kept a relatively low profile since then but has remained a figure of interest to authorities.
Mr Gaughan said police had been investigating the matter for "a number of weeks" but declined to go into detail.
Victoria Police deputy commissioner Shane Patton said authorities had an obligation to stop Australians going to fight with extremist groups overseas.
"I know there'll be people sitting at home [who] would say, 'Why don't you simply just let them go and take their chance in the waves and fighting Syria?'
"We can't do that. We can't allow Australians to leave Australia and support terrorism anywhere … What happens is if we allow these people to go and fight in Syria, they come back, they're combat hardened [with] increased weaponry and explosive skills and they're increased in radicalisation."
Police have been increasingly using what they call disruption tactics, pouncing early to stop plots going ahead, even at the risk of sacrificing evidence-collection for a prosecution.
"It may be, in some matters such as this, that we have to disrupt early, and ultimately the evidence doesn't allow us to be in a position to charge people," Mr Patton said.
He added "we'll accept that risk".
