Sword seized in anti-terror raids was made of metal, not plastic: AFP Commissioner

Australia's top cop has revealed a sword seized in counter-terror raids in Sydney in September is made of metal — not plastic, as its owner later claimed.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin "categorically" confirmed the sword was made of metal in a Senate estimates hearing last night, Fairfax reports.

"Senator I'm pleased that you've asked this question," Mr Colvin told Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm.

"I can absolutely guarantee the committee it was not a plastic sword. It was a metal sword," Mr Colvin said.

"Categorically I can say that it was a metal sword."

The sword was seized as evidence when police raided the southwest Sydney home of Omarjan Azari, 22, as part of anti-terror operation on September 18 that included around 800 police officers make 15 arrests in Sydney and Brisbane.

Police charged Mr Azari with allegedly plotting to use the sword to behead a random member of the public with the intention of filming the attack.

One man who was arrested in the same home where the sword was found, 21-year-old Mustafa Dirani, later claimed the sword was only a plastic replica and a common fixture of many Shiite households.

Mr Dirani was released without charge and stated his family is Shiite, not Sunni — the Muslim sect associated with ISIL.

The alleged mastermind of the terror plot, Mohammed Ali Baryalei, is also said to belong to the Sunni sect.

Mr Colvin said the sword was decorated with Arabic writing but he was unable to specify whether it related to the Sunni or Shia sects.

He added that while officers are trained in understanding the Islamic religion they were unable to distinguish between the scripts of its two rival sects.

But he added it was "irrelevant" because police did not base operational judgements on which sect a suspect belonged to.

"I wouldn't want my officers to make a predetermined judgement based on whether they thought somebody was Sunni or Shia."

Mr Colvin said the sword was still being held as evidence and the AFP had not decided whether it could be returned.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Author: Nicholas McCallum, Approving editor: Simon Black