The investigation began in December when New England police received information that a teenager was allegedly accessing extremist material online. On March 27, investigators searched a home and seized a mobile phone, a ballistic-style vest, and several notebooks. The 15-year-old boy was charged at the time of that search.
Following a forensic examination of the items, federal and state investigators conducted searches at two Moree homes on Thursday, where handwritten notes and pieces of literature allegedly containing extremist references were seized. The 15-year-old was then arrested and charged with knowingly collecting and making documents connected with terrorism, and using a carriage service to transmit violent extremist material. Both have been refused bail and will appear before Parramatta children’s court on Friday.