Australia Arrests Schoolgirl Alleging financing ISIS In Syria, Iraq

A 16-year-old schoolgirl was arrested by Australian police along with a 20-year-old man in Sydney on Tuesday alleged to have been financing the ISIS militant group in Syria and Iraq.

As of now the identities of the two suspects have not been revealed but the man is said to have been arrested earlier too during raids in September 2014.

The anti money laundering agency of Australia revealed in 2015 the suspected financing for terrorist groups had increased by three-fold in about a year and over $38 million is being probed whether being used to support the ISIS group.

New South Wales state police Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn said, “We anticipate that both these people will be charged later today and attend court and the charge that we anticipate they will have is one of financing terrorism.”

She added further that the teenager is not well-known to them and so it is disturbing to see a trend of such young children getting involved in financing terrorism activities.

Australia is on high alert for attacks by home-grown radicals after it became a part of US-led coalition to conduct airstrikes against the Islamic State controlled area in Syria and Iraq.

Government data reveals over 150 Australians are supporting ISIS from within the country and another 100 are fighting alongside their fighters.

Apart from all these, the Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan said the two arrests are not connected to any threat.

If you are in Australia, do share your views how the situation there is in terms of threats by ISIS within the country.