Five held in Australia over terror-linked shooting

New South Wales police say more than 200 officers swooped into homes in western Sydney on Wednesday and arrested the men as part of their investigation into the killing of Curtis Cheng.

They did not know whether Mr Cheng was targeted personally or more generally because he was a police employee.

A fifth man was arrested during the raids on unrelated fraud charges.

Those arrested included a 16-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man, two 22-year-old men and a 24-year-old man. They have been detained and are due to be taken to various police stations for questioning.

“Time will clearly tell about what their associations may have been leading up to the events on Friday”, she said, adding that Jabar had not been on their radar.

The victim, Curtis Cheng, had been working with the NSW Police Force for 17 years and was with the finance and business division, police said.

Mike Baird, the premier of New South Wales, said Tuesday that it was not credible that a 15-year-old could commit such a murder without a few form of assistance or encouragement.

“We have to ensure that we don’t see incidents like this again and we’re doing everything we possibly can to ensure that”. It has been reported Jabar visited a nearby mosque on his way to the alleged attack. “What we are investigating is a terrorism offense”, she said, adding that investigators suspect the boy had been influenced, either ideologically or politically, to kill.

Jabar’s sister is believed to have flown from Sydney to Istanbul the day before he carried out the attack.

Australian authorities are in contact with Turkish national police to try to establish her whereabouts, though stressed it is not suggested she was involved in any criminal activity in Australia.

The 15-year-old gunman, Farhad Jabar Khalil Mohammad, was shot dead by police himself following the killing.

“The threats that are emerging are new”.

Police were continuing to search the premises on Wednesday. “We have to respond and we will. But certainly my strong assurance to the people of NSW is that our schools are safe”.

“I would like to reassure the whole Arthur Phillip High School community that the school continues to be in close liaison with the Department of Education and the NSW Police to uphold our exemplary levels of student safety and student wellbeing”, Ms Goodwin said.