Almost 300 police telephone intercepts have exposed the most prolific recruitment network to lure young Australian jihadis to fight in Syria.

The intercepts give never-before-heard details of extremist grooming on our own shores, which led to the deaths of at least two young Australians.

The man at the centre of the network, Sydney recruiter Hamdi Alqudsi, was on Thursday sentenced to a minimum of six years’ jail.

The recordings reveal the codified conversations used the metaphor of “soccer” to refer to grooming the best fighters.

“And he wants the right players in the soccer club, or else you’re not going to be playing,” Alqudsi is heard saying.

They also reveal the difficulty the network faced wrangling young men abroad, some who had not been overseas before.

“I also don’t want the brothers to send photos to their wives with their tools [guns],” Alqudsi said.

Some had thoughts of returning home.

“I will bring them across but if they want to go back they make their own way back because I’m not going to risk anyone’s life,” Australia’s most senior Islamic State member, Mohammad Baryalei, is heard saying.

Mohammad Ali Baralei. Photo: supplied

“I’m not playing any more games with any children, no more, OK?” Alqudsi said.

‘I’m in charge of everything’

Alqudsi helped six young Australian-born fighters to join Al-Nusra extremists in Syria. The phone taps reveal he planned to send more.

“We’ve got 13 brothers, we can’t make such a mistake,” he said.

They included Tyler Casey, Caner Temel, Amira Karroum, Mehmet Biber and Nassim Elbahsa.

Caner Temel died fighting for opposing Islamist rebel groups. Photo: ABC

Casey and Temel died fighting for opposing Islamist rebel groups.

Casey and his wife Amira Karroum were with the Al Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra when they were killed by Islamic State fighters in January 2014. Temel was killed in the same month fighting for Islamic State.

“This moment is a very special moment and it proves a fact, one thing, Allah the Exalted and most High has picked youse one by one,” Alqudsi was heard saying in July 2016.

In a June 2013 intercept he said, “I am speaking to you as the Emir of your group … I’m the head of everything, you understand? I’m … I’m in charge of everything.”

Imam Afroz Ali told 7.30 that the charismatic Alqudsi targeted the vulnerable.

“(He) only had traction with the disenfranchised youth, the violent and the criminal underworld,” he said.

“It was not until his arrest that people realised how deep his charisma affected and influenced many of the youth.”

“He sent young people to death.
Jamal Doaud

Jamal Doaud, a community leader from the Social Justice Network, told 7.30 Alqudsi’s case was the “tip of the iceberg”.

“Hamdi Alqudsi was tried for helping people and sending them to Syria, which is a lenient crime. He did bigger crime. He sent young people to death,” Mr Doad said.

Counter-terror expert Jacinta Carroll said the grooming of young men to be terrorists was not unlike the way paedophiles groomed their victims.

“There is a strong preference to target young, impressionable teenagers in particular,” she said.

“We have heard from the NSW Police and Victoria Police some individuals being groomed as young as 14, 12 and 10.

“That suggests that there is an attempt by adults, like Alqudsi and Baryaeli, older men with a history of petty criminality, seeking to use young, impressionable people to undertake their work for them.”

– ABC’s Andy Park and Jeanavive McGregor