This is an archive article published on August 20, 2015

Australia: PM Tony Abbott says 7 ‘jihadi’ suspects stopped at airport

Reports on Thursday said that the largest single group of suspected jihadis to attempt to leave Australia were stopped at Sydney International Airport on August 12.

By: AP

1 min readCanberraAug 20, 2015 07:34 AM IST First published on: Aug 20, 2015 at 07:34 AM IST

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Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott

Australia’s Prime Minister says seven young Australians were recently prevented from leaving the country because of fears they intended to join terrorists in the Middle East.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott refused to give details to reporters on Thursday, including who the seven were or where and when they were intercepted. The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported Thursday that the largest single group of suspected jihadis to attempt to leave Australia for Syria and Iraq were stopped by counter-terrorism authorities at Sydney International Airport on August 12. That group comprised five men.

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Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton confirmed there had been “an incident” at the airport on August 12, but would not give details because the investigation was ongoing.