Bin Laden made Roche do it

2004-05-17 14:21

Perth - Islamic convert Jack Roche was recruited by the al-Qaeda terrorist network to form an Australian cell and ordered directly by Osama bin Laden to blow up the Israeli embassy with a truck bomb, a court was told here on Monday.

The trial of British-born Roche, 50, the first Australian resident charged under the country's tough new anti-terrorist legislation, began before a jury in the District Court here on Monday under tight security.

Roche denies a charge of conspiring to damage the Israeli embassy in Canberra by means of explosives, and as a consequence harm diplomatic staff.

Prosecutor Ron Davies QC told the jury that Roche had travelled to Afghanistan to meet senior figures from the terrorist organisation - including bin Laden - in March 2000.

Several discussions with a man named as bin Laden's then-deputy, Abu Haifs, and one sit-down meeting with bin Laden, led to the plan to target Israeli interests in Australia.

Davies said that after undergoing 10 days of explosives training at an al-Qaeda camp 15km from Kandahar, Roche then returned to Australia and began surveillance operations on diplomatic buildings in Canberra and Sydney.

He had also begun a recruitment process - of Caucasians, so as not to raise suspicion - and made inquiries about the availability of explosives.

"Bin Laden told him to do it"

Explosives expert Ibrahim Fraser, who met Roche at a Sydney mosque, told the court Roche had boasted to him he was going to destroy Canberra's Israeli embassy - and that bin Laden had told him to do it.

"He told me (of the plan) between 20 and 25 times over a couple of years. He said it was bin Laden's way to remind the people of the problems in Palestine," Fraser told the court. "I thought he was crazy."

Fraser, a former mine site shot firer, said Roche had asked him how he could obtain TNT, and had discussed at length his belief in waging jihad against non-Muslims.

Fraser said he was so disturbed at Roche's plan he contacted the Australian High Commission in Singapore in mid-2001 to warn them, but they never returned his calls.

Raids on Roche's house in Perth recovered video recordings, stills and notes made during the surveillance, the court was told.

The jury also heard that during an interview with a journalist from The Australian newspaper before he was arrested, Roche was asked about possible casualties in any explosion.

"He said he had no qualms about the Israeli people around the embassy ... in his words, not mine, they were fair game" Davies said.

The conspiracy charge, which attracts a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, relates to actions that allegedly took place in Malaysia, Pakistan and Afghanistan four years ago.

The trial, which is due to last a month, is continuing.

- AFP