(AP News) Police arrested a 17-year-old and accused him of plotting to detonate three homemade bombs in the Australian city of Melbourne, officials said on Saturday, in the latest terrorism scare involving a teenager.
The teen was arrested on Friday afternoon in a joint federal-state police counterterrorism operation at his home in the suburb of Greenvale where the explosive devices were found, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Mike Phelan said. The state police bomb squad rendered the devices safe, he said.
Melbourne is Australia’s second largest city and is the capital of Victoria state.
Last month, five Australian teenagers were arrested on suspicion of plotting an Islamic State group-inspired terrorist attack at a Veterans’ Day ceremony also in Melbourne that included targeting police officers.
“It’s deeply troubling to police that such young people in our community are becoming disaffected in the way in which they are and considering endangering the lives of many Australians,” Phelan told reporters.
