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Teenager ‘plotted Anzac beheading’

AAP

AAP

A 14-year-old British schoolboy has been charged with terror offences after allegedly inciting a beheading in Australia during Anzac Day commemorations.

The teenager has become the youngest person ever charged with terrorism offences in the United Kingdom, and will face court on Friday.

The boy encouraged another person to carry out an attack on an Anzac Day parade in Australia, as well as behead a member of the public, prosecutors have claimed.

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The planned attack involved killing a police officer before stealing their gun and using it to shoot others, the ABC has reported.

“The first allegation is that, between 15 and 26 March 2015, the defendant incited another person to commit an act of terrorism, namely to carry out an attack at an Anzac parade in Australia with the aim of killing and or causing serious injury to people,” said Crown Prosecution Service deputy head of counter-terrorism Deborah Walsh.

“The second allegation is that on 18 March 2015, the defendant incited another person to behead someone in Australia.”

The teenager, from north-western England, was first arrested on the 2nd of April but then detained again on Saturday after officers examined “devices” and allegedly uncovered communications with a man in Australia.

The communications, UK police believe, “indicated a potential credible terrorist attack in Australia”.

The schoolboy’s arrest comes as part of a wider police operation, with Australian authorities last week arresting five Melbourne teenagers over the alleged plot.

Two 18-year-olds have been charged with conspiring to commit a terrorist attack, while another 18-year-old has been charged with weapons offences.

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